WBO featherweight champ Ramirez of Cuba and the 12th-ranked challenger Shimizu of Ohashi Boxing Gym exude confidence, respectively at a Yokohama hotel on July 22 vis-à-vis their title clash on July 25 at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena.

  The scheduled 12-rounder will serve as the chief supporting card for the World Boxing Council and WBO super bantamweight title match between champion Stephen Fulton of the United States and Shimizu’s stablemate and top-ranked challenger Naoya ‘’the Monster’’ Inoue.

  Speaking before a group of reporters, the 29-year-old Ramirez said, ‘’My condition is perfect. I have engaged in a splendid training. Honestly, I don’t have much information about Shimizu. But Japanese boxers fight with mental power. I think Shimizu will also fight that way. I think I can cope with that kind of fight.’’

  Ramirez, who is making his first defense of the title he won on Apr. 1, captured the gold medal in the flyweight division in the 2012 London Olympics and also won the gold medal in the bantamweight division in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. 

  The 37-year-old Shimizu won the bantamweight bronze medal in the London Olympics. But Ramirez brushed it aside by saying, ‘’It’s the thing of the past.’’

  Meanwhile, Shimizu, who is making his first crack at a world title, said, ‘’I thought the time has come at long last. I think it’s like the same kind of a big match similar to the quarterfinals in the London Olympics (in which at least a bronze medal was at stake).

  ‘’Ramirez is technically excellent and is very rapid in his movement. The bottom line is to what extent I can express my ability,’’ Shimizu added.

  Ramirez, who has been fighting out of the U.S. as he defected to the U.S. in 2018, has a professional record of 12 wins, including seven knockouts, against a loss (in his debut). For his part, Shimizu has an 11-1 win-loss tally with 10 KOs.