GILBERTO Ramirez and Chris Billam-Smith both made the weight ahead of their crunch clash tomorrow evening in Riyadh. WBA champ ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez has the chance to unify his title and take one step closer to undisputed in just his third outing at the weight.
The Mexican, who boxed for a middleweight title in the early stages of his career, looked podgy as usual and is the smaller man. WBO king Billam-Smith is a natural cruiserweight. “Nobody in this division can live with my intensity,” stated the Bournemouth boxer.
Meanwhile, at super-lightweight, it’s time to let the hands go for Jose Ramirez, who faces his former stablemate, Arnold Barboza. Rather than his size, Ramirez believes his experience, power and strength will carry through.
Barboza said that he has waited a long time for his big opportunity and will look to fight on the inside with the former unified champion.
On the verge of a big lightweight fight, possibly against Shakur Stevenson, Mexican buzzsaw William Zepeda acknowledges that he has a strong opponent in front of him and feels no extra pressure with the big one so close.
Tevin Farmer once reigned as a quality world-level operator and has no concerns with Zepeda’s huge punch output. Ready to shut a lot of people up, after losing last time out to Raymond Muratalla, Farmer says he just needs to be himself (i.e. do what he does best) to prevail.
In a minimumweight unification, Oscar Collazo says he is ready to take it round by round and “steal the show” against Thammanoon Niyomtrong.
Former sparring partners Oscar Duarte and late-replacement Batyr Akhmedov are also featured.
12 x 3 mins – WBA ‘Super’ and WBO cruiserweight world titles
Gilberto Ramirez 199.6lbs
Chris Billam-Smith 199.4lbs
10 x 3 mins – super-lightweight
Jose Ramirez 139.6lbs
Arnold Barboza 140lbs
10 x 3 mins – lightweight
William Zepeda 134.2lbs
Tevin Farmer 135lbs
12 x 3 mins – WBA ‘Super’ and WBO minimumweight world titles
Oscar Collazo 104.8lbs
Thammanoon ‘Knockout CP Freshmart’ Niyomtrong 104.8lbs
10 x 3 mins – super-lightweight (catchweight)
Oscar Duarte 141.8lbs
Batyr Akhmedov 141.8lbs
6 x 3 mins – welterweight
Ziyad Almaayouf 143.2lbs
Juan Garcia 144.8lbs