WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs) defeated WBO champ Chris Billiam-Smith (20-2, 13 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision in a war on Saturday night at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
(Credit: Golden Boy/Chris Esqueda)
The scores were 116-112, 116-112 and 116-113.
“I feel great. I’m a unified champion. I’m prepared for those guys. He was a strong guy,” said Ramirez after the fight. “It was great footwork for me. I used my defense as much as I can. I want to unify against all the champions. That’s a great goal for me,” said Ramirez if he’d like to fight IBF champion Jai Opetaia next.
Billiam-Smith suffered a cut over his left eye from a clash of heads in round four. The cut was a problem for the remainder of the fight, but he was able to still fight hard. What really hurt Billiam-Smith’s chances of winning was his fatigue. He got tired early and couldn’t fight as hard as he needed. The footwork for Ramirez gave the lead-footed Billiam-Smith problems.
The undercard results are below.
– Light Welterweight Arnold Barboza Jr. (31-0, 11 KOs) defeated former unified 140-lb champion Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision in a WBO title eliminator. The scores were 97-93, 96-94 and 96-94.
“This is my championship fight. All this time we spent together, it never happened,” said Barboza Jr. “This is a fight we wanted. I’d love a title shot. I’m the only fighter at the top, and I haven’t gotten a shot.”
– Unbeaten lightweight contender William Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) outworked the former IBF super Featherweight champion Tevin Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs), winning a 10-round split decision. Farmer, 34, had his moments in the fight, dropping Zepeda with a left hand in round four, but was outworked by the Mexican fighter for the remainder of the fight.
Farmer did a lot of holding throughout the fight and looked worn out from rounds eight on. The scores were 95-94, 95-94 for Zepeda, and 95-94 for Farmer. Boxing News 24 scored it for Zepeda 9-1. Farmer only fought well enough to win the fourth round.
“We always knew it was going to be a tough fight. Farmer has a lot of experience, and there are things I have to improve. I’m happy with my performance tonight,” said Zepeda. “He tried to smother me and close me down and not allow me to get comfortable in there. I was able to do the bodywork to wear him down.
“That shot [from Farmer in round four] surprised me a little bit and knocked my confidence a little bit. But I was able to draw from my experience. We’ve been waiting for that opportunity to get that [title shot]. Yeah, we’re just waiting in confidence to get that firm offer, and we’ll take that opportunity,” said Zepeda about fighting Shakur Stevenson.
“I thought the knockdown edged it out,” said Farmer. “It was something I’d seen before,” said Farmer about the output from Zepeda. “This guy has been stopping the last 11 opponents, and you seen what I did. The goal was to put pressure on him. We made him go back, and for guys like that, they don’t fight that good.”
– WBO minimumweight champion Oscar Collazo (11-0, 8 KOs) stopped previously unbeaten WBA champ Thammanoon “Knockout CP Freshmart” Niyomtrong (25-1, 9 KOs) by knockout in the seventh round.
Collazo dropped the 34-year-old Niyomtrong three times in the fight, once in round six and twice more in the seventh to get the knockout. The time of the stoppage was at 1:29 of round seven. The knockout came with a left uppercut followed by a right to the body from the 27-year-old Puerto Rican Collazo.
– Lightweight contender Oscar Duarte (28-2-1, 22 KOs) started slow but came on strong in the sixth round to win a 10-round unanimous decision over Bortizhon Akhmedov (10-4, 9 KOs). Duarte, 27, hurt Akhmedov with big shots in rounds six, seven and nine. In the tenth, Duarte suffered a cut on his forehead from a clash of heads. The scores were 98-92, 97-93, and 96-94.
“I know my opponent is Akhmedov is a great fighter. We trained in the past, but I listened to my corner. I felt I did enough to win the fight,” said Duarte after the fight. We knew he was that much of a fighter. He’s a warrior who always comes forward. We knew we had to take the initiative. I’m ready for anybody, and I want to fight Devin Haney. The reason I want to fight him is because he’s one of the best. I feel I’m on my way back. I’m ready for the next opportunity.”
– In an exciting fight, welterweight Ziyad Almaayouf (6-0-1, 1 KO) and Juan Garcia (5-6-1) fought to a six-round majority draw. Alaamayouf, 24, landed the harder shots, but Garcia’s combination punching evened it out. The scores were 58-56 for Almaayouf, 57-57 and 57-57. This is a fight that needed to be at least ten rounds to determine a winner, as they were both slinging punches but neither guy could land a big enough shot in six rounds to come out on top.
In the co-main, light Welterweight contenders Jose Ramirez and Arnold Barboza Jr. fight to position themselves to fight for the WBO title. It’s difficult to say how much former unified 140-lb champion Ramirez (29-1, 18 KOs) has left in the tank at this point, as he hasn’t had a serious fight since his loss to Josh Taylor three years ago in 2021.
He’s been facing lesser opposition in a wasteful three-year rebuild, which in hindsight, wasn’t needed.
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Full Card for DAZN
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
The fight that many fans seem to be more interested in for the card is the lightweight battle between William Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) and Tevin Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs), who will battle in a 10-rounder to put the winner in a title fight against WBC champion Shakur Stevenson in February.
Farmer wants to pull off an upset to ruin Zepeda’s plans, but it doesn’t seem realistic. He’s too old at 34 and doesn’t fit in the 135-lb landscape like he had at 130.