Boxing Tonight: Ramirez Vs. Billiam-Smith – Live Results

Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez faces Chris Billiam-Smith in a cruiserweight unification fight today at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event will be streamed live on DAZN at noon. The winner of the Ramirez-Billiam-Smith clash will likely face IBF champ Jai Opetaia next; it will be interesting to see how they do against the King of the division.

Live undercard results

• Lightweight contender Oscar Duarte (28-2-1, 22 KOs)  battled hard to defeat Bortizhon Akhmedov (10-4, 9 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision. The 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Akhmedov got the better of Duarte through the first five rounds. Duarte came on in the six, staggering Akhmedov. Duarte continued to get the better of the action in the championship rounds against a tired-looking Akhmedov. Duarte’s punching power was the difference. After the contest, Duarte said he wanted to fight Devin Haney next. The judges’ scores were 98-92, 97-93, and 96-94. “It warrants a rematch, but we’ll move on,” said promoter Oscar De La Hoya about his plans to move Duarte to a bigger fight.
• Welterweight Ziyad Almaayouf (6-0-1, 1 KO) and Juan Garcia (5-6-1) battled to an entertaining six-round majority draw. This was a back-and-forth contest, with both fighters standing in the center of the ring, throwing nonstop punches.  The judges’ scores were 58-56 for Zihad, 57-57 and 57-57. Ziyad was connecting with beautiful hooks, thrown with power, but Garcia answered back with activity, throwing nonstop punches. It was a well-scored fight by the judges, as picking a winner between the two was impossible.

Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya is hopeful that the 33-year-old ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez’s recent string of success can continue because he wants to turn him into a star.

DAZN Card at 12-noon

Gilberto Ramirez vs. Chris Billam-Smith
Jose Ramirez vs. Arnold Barboza Jr
William Zepeda vs. Tevin Farmer
Oscar Collazo vs. Thammanoon Niyomtrong
Oscar Duarte vs. Batyr Akhmedov
Ziyad Almaayouf vs. Juan Garcia

Zurdo (46-1, 30 KOs) is getting to the point where this might as good as it gets with his career. In other words, he’s a paper champion and not viewed as a solid belt-holder after wasting most of his 15-year pro career padding his record with tomato cans.

In the chief support fight, former unified 140-lb champion Jose Ramirez and Arnold Barboza Jr. meet in a WBO light Welterweight title eliminator to determine a mandatory for champion Teofimo Lopez.

Lightweight contender William Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) is in an equally important fight against Tevin Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) in a 10-rounder. This is a dry run for Zepeda, 28, to face WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd.