Chris Billam-Smith touts advantages in size, intensity against Gilberto Ramirez

Chris Billam-Smith and Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez stand about the same height. They’ll both weigh in at or slightly under the 200-pound weight limit. They both have earned world titles at cruiserweight. And yet when Billam-Smith and Ramirez meet in Riyadh this Saturday in their unification bout, there may nevertheless be a difference in size.

Billam-Smith (20-1, 13 KOs) is a career cruiserweight, competing within or slightly above the limit of 200 pounds since 2017. He maxed out at 207 pounds in his fifth pro bout and has remained wholly within the limit for the past five years. 

Ramirez (46-1, 30 KOs), meanwhile, has been as low as a middleweight, won a world title at 168, challenged for a title at 175 and then moved up to cruiserweight last October. Ramirez won the WBA cruiserweight title this past March with a wide decision over Arsen Goulamirian.

“I think I’ll be more natural at the weight, and a lot fuller and muscular at the weight, and stronger at the weight than he will,” Billam-Smith, the WBO cruiserweight titleholder, told me in an interview this week. “I think I’ve just been at this weight for so long now and over the last few years really, really grown into the weight and felt a lot stronger at the weight. Whereas he’s obviously come up, and he’s probably a bit fleshier and stuff like that. And I just felt in his presence, I felt like he was a slightly smaller man. He doesn’t look it as such, but he just felt smaller than me. And I just feel like I’ll be the bigger man in there on the night.”

Of course, Billam-Smith believes that size isn’t the only reason he’ll defeat Ramirez.

“Just the intensity that I fight at. It’s a grueling intensity,” Billam-Smith said. “A lot of people come in and spar me and they think they’re going to be absolutely fine. And then they get in the ring with me and after a couple of rounds, they’re like, ‘Wow, this is a pace.’ And I’ll have three different sparring partners that are doing four rounds each, and they need a breather after the third or fourth round. So they want to get out then, and I’m staying in there and doing the same with the next guy and the next guy. So I’ve got a really, really good fitness level and a good fight intensity. I’m always working for every second, every round.”

It’s worked so far for Billam-Smith, who earned the WBO belt in May 2023 with a majority decision over Lawrence Okolie. He defended that belt in December, stopping Mateusz Masternak in the eighth. Masternak was ahead on two of the three judges’ scorecards at the time but had been hurt by Billam-Smith’s body shots, suffering a rib injury bad enough to call it a night. In June, Billam-Smith avenged his only pro loss, winning a rematch over the previously unbeaten Richard Riakporhe via unanimous decision.

“It’s always entertaining,” Billam-Smith said. “I wouldn’t call it a slick style, like some people like the pure science of boxing. But it’s an excitement and an entertainment, always. And I bring relentlessness and punch power, good inside fighting, good speed, and a heart like no other.”

As for his opponent, Billam-Smith has been complimentary of what Ramirez has done and is capable of doing.

“To have 47 fights and 46 wins, and your only loss being to Dmitry Bivol, having won a world title at two different weights, you don’t get there by luck,” Billam-Smith said. “You get there with a lot of hard work and skill and all the other attributes that you need to become a champion and stay one and compete at that top level. He’s got some great names on his record.

“He’s beaten a longstanding champion at cruiserweight in Goulamirian. And the fact his only loss is to Dmitry Bivol, who’s obviously a very, very skilled operator and one of the best of this generation, then I think you have to respect that. And when I watch him, he’s got a lot of different skills. He ticks a huge amount of boxes. There’s not really anything he doesn’t do very well. He’s a very well-rounded boxer. There’s not any glaring weaknesses there. So yeah, that’s why I respect him.”

Billam-Smith vs. Ramirez will air for free on DAZN with no subscription required.

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.