Former WBO World Super Middleweight Champion and current WBA Super World Cruiserweight Champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez defeated WBO World Cruiserweight Champion Chris Billam-Smith on Saturday night at Latino Night at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs) outpointed Billam-Smith (20-2, 13 KOs) and won a 12-round unanimous decision in the main event on DAZN.
In the first round, Billam-Smith had a slight edge in strokes. In the opening minute of the second round, Ramirez landed a lead on the chin. In the final minute, Billam-Smith landed a solid right to the chin. In the third round, Ramirez landed Billam-Smith.
In the fourth round’s final minute, Ramirez landed some solid lead lefts to the chin, and Billam-Smith took them well. His age and size are similar, with Billam-Smith having a small cut on his left eyelid.
Both had their moments in the fifth, with Billam-Smith landing uppercuts and Ramirez landing a big left on the chin at the bell. Ramirez had a great round with blood from Billam-Smith’s left eyelid coming down his face in the sixth. The ring doctor checked the eye between rounds.
In the seventh round, another good one for Ramirez landing Billiam-Smith to the body, and Billiam-Smith’s left eye is partially closed. It was all Ramirez in the eighth until the final minute, with Billam-Smith landing three short rights to the chin.
Ramirez has to wonder what keeps Billam-Smith going in the ninth. He continued to come forward and walk into Ramirez’s punches. A round later Billam-Smith had his best round of the fight.
In the eleventh round, Billam-Smith showed plenty of heart, matching Ramirez punch for punch. Both had moments in the twelfth and final round, and they looked at the clock exhausted.
The scores were 116-112, 116-112 and 116-113.
In the co-main event, former 2012 Olympian and former WBC and WBO Light Welter champion Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) lost a close decision to WBO Intercontinental Super Light champion Arnold Barboza, Jr. (31-0, 11 KOs) ) by a 10-round unanimous decision.
In the first round it was like a chess match. Barboza’s stronger finish may have won him the round. In the second and third rounds, Ramirez comes out in another close fight. In the fourth round, Ramirez may have pulled out the round with a stronger finish.
In the fifth round, at the end of the minute, Barboza landed a solid right to the chin after controlling his jab. In the sixth and seventh rounds it continued with Barboza’s jab making the difference. At both bells, Barboza landed the jab and a right hand on Ramirez’s chin.
In the eighth and ninth rounds, Ramirez continued to come forward and possibly took the rounds off Barboza. In the tenth and final round, Barboza landed good left hooks to the body and countered Ramirez in a close fight.
Referee Ricky Gonzalez. Scores were 97-93, 96-94 and 96-94.
No. 1 ranked in all four sanctioning bodies, WBA Continental Americas Light champion southpaw William ‘Camaron’ Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) has a 10-round split decision over former IBF Super Feather champion southpaw Tevin ‘Two Time ‘ Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs), comes off the canvas for the WBC Interim Light title.
In the second round, Zepeda finished strong with a flurry of punches. In the fourth round, Farmer dropped Zepeda with a counter left on a miss on the chin halfway through the round for an 8 count from referee Harvey Dock. In the fifth round, Zepeda came back and landed more punches, while Farmer landed the harder punches.
In the sixth round Zepeda came back well and landed Farmer who put a lot of pressure on him. In the seventh round, Zepeda continued to come forward, but Farmer countered him well enough to take an even round.
The eighth and ninth rounds each had their moments, with Zepeda coming out ahead and Farmer countering him, each taking a round. In the tenth and final round, Farmer gets jabs while Zepeda does not. Zepeda lands a bunch of punches, but Farmer knows how to tie him up, stopping his momentum. Boer may have pulled off a major upset. The tee off can make the difference.
Scores were 95-94 Zepeda, 95-94 Farmer and 95-94 Zepeda.
WBA World Minimumweight Champion Thammanoon ‘CP Freshmart’ Niyomtrong (25-1, 9 KOs) was stopped by Southpaw WBO Minimum Champ Oscar ‘El Pupilo’ Collazo (11-0, 8 KOs) in a unified title fight at 1:29 of the seventh round of a scheduled 12 rounds.
In the first five rounds, southpaw Collazo was the busier of the two for the most part. It looked like CP Freshmart was gearing up for a big counter, but it didn’t happen.
In the sixth round, after a minute, CP Freshmart landed a solid right to the chin. With 30 seconds left, a counter right hook from Collazo went to the chin and down CP Freshmart for an 8 count from referee Ricky Gonzalez.
In the seventh round, a double right hook from Collazo to the side of the head and down CP Freshmart went to the canvas for an 8 count from referee Gonzalez a little over a minute into the round. Shortly after, a boundary left followed by a left uppercut to the chin from Collazo and down he went with referee Gonzalez promptly waving it away.
Super Lightweight Oscar ‘La Migrana’ Duarte (28-2-1, 22 KOs) defeated Southpaw 2016 Olympian (over 100 bouts) Botirzhon ‘The Shark’ Akhmedov (10-4, 9 KOs) over ten rounds. Durate lost the early rounds but came back well enough to take the decision.
In the first round, late sub and two-time world title challenger southpaw Akhmedov looked to have an edge. They had already sparred many rounds against each other before this match. In the second through fifth rounds, Akhmedov had an edge while Durate was not as engaged, and some shots fell short.
In the sixth and seventh rounds, Durate was able to land more because of Akhmedov now leading more with his head. In the eighth round, Durate landed right on Akhmedov’s chin in the first minute, drawing his attention. He came right back, but as the fight wore on, it looked like Durate had an answer.
In the ninth round, Durate landed a lot of rights to the chin. There hasn’t been a single fight in the fight so far, which has made it easy for referee Robert Hoyle. In the tenth and final round, Durate backed up Akhmedov the entire round, making him counter for the first time. At the end, a small cut on the forehead of Durate.
Scores were 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94.
Welterweight Ziyad ‘Zizo’ Almaayouf (6-0-1, 1 KO) finished in a majority six-round draw with Juan Carlos ‘Demoledor’ Garcia (5-6-1).
In the first round, Almaayouf controlled it with his jab. In the final seconds, Garcia finished strong with left hooks. In the second round, late sub Garcia knocked out Almaayouf’s mouthpiece. Instead of taking it to the corner, referee Robert Hoyle puts it back. Garcia had a big round to the body.
In the third round, Almaayouf closed the round by rocking Garcia with a left hook and knocking Garcia’s head back. In the fourth and fifth rounds, both had their moments. In the final seconds, Garcia drew blood from Almaayouf’s nose in the fourth second.
In the sixth and final round, Garcia won the war, but will he get the decision over the local opponent? No, ended in a draw.
Scores were 58-56 Almaayoug, 57-57 and 57.
The ring announcers were Thomas Treiber and Michael Buffer in the main event.
