WBA Cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez needs to show he’s for real on Saturday night in his unification fight against WBA champion Chris Billiam-Smith at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
(Credit: Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda)
It’s going to be a fight where Zurdo is going to have to take some hard shots and deal with the holding that Billiam-Smith does. It’s frustrating how he always holds, but it works for him.
Ramirez (46-1, 30 KOs) has received a lot of praise from his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, going into this match against Billiam-Smith (20-1, 13 KOs) in their headliner, live on DAZN.
Oscar believed in Zurdo enough to place his fight in the main event ahead of one that has received far more interest from fans on social media between William Zepeda and Tevin Farmer, which, surprisingly, Golden Boy has placed in the third fight from the headliner.
Many boxing fans gave up on Ramirez after waiting for over 10 years for him to finally face a talented opponent. He turned pro in 2009, but it wasn’t until 13 years later when he fought Dmitry Bivol that he fought a quality guy.
Ramirez was completely overmatched, losing to Bivol by a wide 12-round unanimous decision on November 5, 2022. Since that loss, Ramirez has adopted pure boxing style and won two in a row, beating Joe Smith Jr. and WBA champion Arsen Goulamirian to become a two-division world champion.
Neither of those fighters was outstanding talent, and it wasn’t a good sign that Ramirez was staggered by the 37-year-old Goulamarian at one point in the fight. The performance showed that Golden Boy will need to keep Ramirez away from IBF champion Jai Opetaia because he’s not in the same league as that guy.
De La Hoya doesn’t seem eager to make a unification fight between Ramirez and Opetaia. The guy that De La Hoya is hoping will show interest is Oleksandr Usyk if he returns to the cruiserweight division after his rematch against Tyson Fury on December 21st.
“Around the big cities, LA, Houston, Texas, Arizona, and the Mexican areas, he’s a big name. Zurdo is the first Mexican champion at 168 pounds. Now, he’s the first cruiserweight Mexican champion. It’s incredible the history he’s making,” said Sergio Mora to DAZN Boxing, talking about WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez ahead of his fight against WBO champ Chris Billiam-Smith this Saturday.
Ramirez isn’t well known by casual boxing fans in the U.S., and he’s not popular. That’s why it was a strange move by De La Hoya to put him in the main event because it’s not creating interest in the Latino Night card having him as the main event. Moreover, there’s a good chance that he’ll loss to Billiam-Smith. If Ramirez does win, it’ll likely be another boring fight.
“So, is he a star known all around the world? No, but in the Mexican community and the Latino community, absolutely,” said Mora.
“Chris Billiam-Smith’s performance as of late has been impressive, I would say. He’s improving all the time. I would say for the two of them, their biggest wins are still out there,” said Darren Barker.
“I think the jury is still out for Zurdo Ramirez. I’m not really buying into the [Arsen] Goulamirian fight and the Joe Smith fight.”
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