BY Vince D’Writer: After losing world title bouts in the light heavyweight division, both Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (44-1, 30 KOs) and Joe Smith Jr (28-4, 22 KOs) will attempt to get their respective careers back on track when they face each other in a cruiserweight bout on Saturday night October 7th at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, starting at 8 pm ET, live on DAZN.
Ramirez and Smith are contenders who are both former world champions. Joe Smith Jr held the WBO light heavyweight title from April 2021 to June 2022, and Zurdo Ramirez held the WBO super-middleweight title from 2016-2019.
A native of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, Gilberto Ramirez finally received his shot at a world title after putting in 7 years of hard work. In his 34th fight as a pro, Ramirez defeated Arthur Abraham in April 2016 by way of unanimous decision and won the WBO super-middleweight title.
Zurdo had five successful title defenses and then he proceeded to move up to the light heavyweight division. Competing as a light heavyweight, Ramirez had five bouts which resulted in five knockout victories.
His success in the division earned him a shot at the WBA light heavyweight world champion Dmitry Bivol. Back in May 2022, Bivol gave a boxing masterclass when he defeated Canelo Alvarez, and six months later, class was back in session as Bivol posted an impressive unanimous decision victory over Zurdo Ramirez.
Zurdo’s opponent for October 7th Joe Smith Jr, is a product of Long Island, New York. Smith made headlines back in December 2016 when he knocked hall of fame boxer Bernard Hopkins out of the ring and scored an 8th round TKO victory.
Five years later Joe Smith Jr defeated Maxim Vlasov by majority decision and won the vacant WBO light heavyweight world title. Smith would try to unify the belts a year later, but unfortunately he was stopped by Artur Beterbiev in the second round.
Now Joe Smith Jr and Zurdo Ramirez are set to clash as both men want to reset their boxing careers in the cruiserweight division. The winner of this bout could place himself in line for a world title opportunity while the loser of this showdown may have to do some self reflecting.
The 32-year-old southpaw Zurdo Ramirez is a highly skilled boxer-puncher who has a nice jab, solid footwork, and he does a good job with his punch placement, especially the shots to the body. His opponent the 34-year-old Joe Smith Jr is a come forward type of brawler who has a devastating right hand.
The bout set for the night of October 7th is an intriguing matchup that is guaranteed to produce fireworks. Style wise a Ramirez vs Smith Jr clash is guaranteed to be an exciting fight due to their boxing styles, and the obvious circumstances.
In addition to their fighting styles, desperation also plays a role in this bout due to the fact that it’s somewhat of a crossroads type of fight. Both Joe Smith Jr and Zurdo Ramirez have world title aspirations in the cruiserweight division, but first they must take care of business on Saturday night where the winner moves on and the loser goes back to the proverbial drawing board.n and the loser goes back to the proverbial drawing board.
