Unified cruiserweight titleholder Gilberto Ramirez has huge plans for his 2025, and he simply could have put himself ready to make all of them occur.
Mexico’s Ramirez, 47-1 (30 KOs), outdueled Britain’s Chris Billam-Smith, now 20-2 (13 KOs), in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in November en path to a unanimous resolution win. He added Billam-Smith’s WBO cruiserweight belt to his personal WBA title and has his sights set on buying the division’s two remaining belts within the months forward.
“I’m excited to be on this place, however the job shouldn’t be completed but,” Ramirez mentioned. “My aim has all the time been to depart a legacy on this sport, and I’m wanting ahead to changing into an undisputed champion this yr.”
The win over Billam-Smith was one thing of a fruits of Ramirez constructing himself again up after a unanimous resolution loss to Dmitry Bivol in 2022, again when Bivol was nonetheless a light-weight heavyweight titleholder and Ramirez was nonetheless competing at 175lbs.
Ramirez has since moved up in weight and brought unanimous choices over former gentle heavyweight titleholder Joe Smith Jnr, the beforehand unbeaten Arsen Goulamirian for the WBA title, and at last Billam-Smith.
Who might be subsequent for “Zurdo” is an open query – even to him. Though the opposite cruiserweight belts are within the possession of Badou Jack (WBC) and Jai Opetaia (IBF), Ramirez is aware of the same old politics of boxing might make unification troublesome, if not unimaginable. At age 33, he has different ambitions and restricted time to meet them.
“Many choices have been offered to my staff and I, from [Yuniel] Dorticos to Badou Jack and Jai Opetaia,” Ramirez mentioned. “We’ll simply should see what the longer term holds.”
Opetaia, 26-0 (20 KOs), will defend his belt at residence in opposition to David Nyika on Wednesday in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia. Jack is looking for to return after almost two years away and was just lately reinstated from being the WBC’s “champion in recess.”
If the opposite cruiserweight beltholders and the talked about contenders fail to work out as opponents, then Ramirez appears open to modifying his plans.
He has mentioned shifting as much as bridgerweight (a division acknowledged solely by the WBA and WBC, topping out at 224 kilos) and ultimately heavyweight, and there’s all the time the opportunity of a key determine assembly Ramirez exactly the place he’s at now: former undisputed cruiserweight champion and former undisputed (and nonetheless lineal and unified) heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
In a press launch issued by Zurdo Promotions on Monday, Usyk was talked about among the many “choices” for Ramirez in 2025. Additionally talked about: David Benavidez (set to face David Morrell Jnr on February 1) and even Jake Paul.
The subtext: If the celebs don’t align for Ramirez to take a crack at unifying the belts at cruiserweight, he actually plans to be nicely compensated for his efforts in 2025.
