Shakur Stevenson itching for another shot at Robeisy Ramirez

With two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez of Cuba reportedly near a deal to finally turn pro with Top Rank, the man he beat in the 2016 bantamweight final is itching to get another crack at incoming amateur star:

Ramirez, who won flyweight gold at London 2012, beat Team USA’s Stevenson in the Rio 2016 bantamweight final. It wasn’t the prettiest fight, as Ramirez and Stevenson were both slick southpaw types.

Ramirez won all three judges’ cards in the first round, then Stevenson evened it up by sweeping the second frame. Ramirez won two of three cards in the third to take the fight.

While Ramirez won — and deserved to win — he was also 22 in that fight and had dominated otherwise through the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Stevenson, then 19, gave him a genuine test.

Now 25, Ramirez defected from the Cuban team about a year ago while training in Mexico. It’s a question of where he’ll fight as a pro — I don’t know his conditioning, but he could in theory settle in at 118, 122, or 126.

Stevenson, of course, is already an emerging featherweight contender at age 21, turning pro in April 2017. He most recently outclassed Christopher Diaz, a former world title challenger, over 10 rounds on the Crawford-Khan show on April 20.

Maybe someday we’ll see them go again. It won’t ever change the result from Rio, but if Ramirez turns out to be a legit pro, there’s obviously a story there, and Stevenson is with Top Rank, too. So, for that matter, is Michael Conlan, who lost to Ramirez in the 2012 flyweight semifinals in London.

Stevenson is currently slated to return on July 13 in Newark, headlining an ESPN card.