Notebook: 'Zurdo' looks to put 1st defeat, weight debacle behind him
Benavidez-Andrade card update; site set for Ryan Garcia-Duarte; Tszyu not celebrating title upgrade; Quick hits; Show and tell
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First, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez got absolutely wiped out challenging Dmitry Bivol for the WBA light heavyweight title in November. He lost nearly every round, fought with no passion and took the first defeat of his 13-year career.
Then, when he was poised to return from the loss against Gabriel Rosado on March 18, Ramirez didn’t just miss the 175-pound contract weight. He was so over that he didn’t even bother to go to the weigh-in because he had no chance to come close to the weight. It turned out that he was unofficially 182.6 pounds — nearly eight over the agreed upon limit.
The fight was canceled, Ramirez lost out on a $400,000 payday and he screwed up the Golden Boy card on DAZN, which went ahead anyway but as a severely downgraded event.
Now, seven months later, Ramirez, the former WBO super middleweight titleholder, who made five defenses during his 2016 to 2018 reign before vacating to move up in weight, is set to return. But he has left the light heavyweight division behind and will debut as a cruiserweight against former WBO light heavyweight titlist Joe Smith Jr., who is also moving up in weight, in a bout contracted at 193 pounds, seven below the cruiserweight limit.
The WBA cruiserweight title eliminator will headline a Golden Boy card on Saturday (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET) at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. It was announced as a 12-round fight and in recent days the WBA agreed to sanction it as an eliminator. However, it was also reduced to a 10-rounder this week at the insistence of the Smith camp, according to Golden Boy.
Nonetheless, Ramirez is determined to put the debacle of his non-competitive loss to Bivol behind him and the mess of missing weight so badly.
“The cancellation of the Rosado fight was definitely a disappointing and challenging moment in my career,” Ramirez said. “It was the first time I missed weight and I take full responsibility for it. I understand that it had an impact on both the fight itself and my reputation. I want to sincerely apologize to my fans, my team, and everyone who was looking forward to the fight.
“I’m aware that setbacks like this can have an impact but I believe that how I respond to adversity is what truly matters. I’m determined to show through my actions and performances that I’m dedicated to my career and to rectify my past mistakes. I’m focusing on the present and future, and I’m looking forward to proving myself in upcoming fights and regaining the trust of those who support me.”
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Before the loss to Bivol, Ramirez won his first five fights at light heavyweight by knockout to force his way into the title shot as a mandatory challenger.
“Dealing with the Bivol loss was really tough,” Ramirez said. “It hurt my soul and it hurt my ego as a warrior. Now that I have been able to move past it, I want to come back even stronger and I want to win. I want to feel like I can do it.”
Now Ramirez (44-1, 30 KOs), 32, a southpaw from Mexico, starts anew in the new weight class against Smith (28-4, 22 KOs), 34, of Mastic on New York’s Long Island, who is also coming off a loss, having been blown away via second-round knockout in a three-belt light heavyweight unification fight against Artur Beterbiev in June 2022.
“I feel great at cruiserweight,” Ramirez said. “This is typically the weight I've walked around my entire life. I feel much stronger in this class and most importantly I feel healthy.
“I’ve been watching Joe Smith Jr. for many years now; probably his whole career. He is a great fighter and it’s exciting for me to face him because he is a former world champion, he has faced many former champions and great top opponents.”
Smith, who also suffered a decision loss to Bivol challenging him his belt in 2019, won the vacant WBO light heavyweight title in April 2021 via majority decision over Maxim Vlasov and made one successful defense against Steve Geffrard in January 2022 before getting stopped by Beterbiev.
Smith, who owns notable victories against Bernard Hopkins, Eleider Alvarez, Jesse Hart and Andrzej Fonfara, is not only seeking to get back on track after the loss but he is also boxing for the first time since the murder of his younger brother, Alex Smith, who was 30 when he was shot and killed in May in the parking lot of a bar in Mastic Beach, New York.
Benavidez-Andrade card update
While WBC interim super middleweight titlist David Benavidez and former two-division titleholder Demetrius Andrade are supposed to meet in the main event of a probable PBC/Showtime PPV card on Nov. 25, which could be in San Antonio or Las Vegas, there are PPV undercard bouts also in the works.
Sources with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite about three of the bouts that would fill out the pay-per-view portion of the show.
The co-feature would match WBC middleweight titlist Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs), 33, of Houston, returning from a 2½-year layoff due to injuries and various personal problems, to face former welterweight title challenger Jose Benavidez Jr. (28-2-1, 19 KOs), 31, of Phoenix, who is David’s older brother.
Another bout likely for the card would be a junior welterweight fight between former titleholder Sergey Lipinets (17-2-1, 13 KOs), 34, a Kazakhstan native fighting out of Woodland Hills, California, who is coming off a one-sided eighth-round knockout of former lightweight titlist Omar Figueroa Jr. in August 2022 that sent Figueroa into retirement, and Michel Rivera (24-1, 14 KOs), 25, of the Dominican Republic, who is moving up from lightweight.
Rivera is coming off a one-sided 12-round decision loss to Frank Martin in December in Las Vegas, after which Rivera tested positive for a two banned substances (hydrochlorothiazide and triamterene) and was suspended for six months and fined $10,000 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Another bout would be a WBC junior lightweight title eliminator between Pablo Vicente (23-1, 17 KOs), 30, a Cuba native fighting out of Panama, against Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov (20-1, 11 KOs), 28, a southpaw from Tajikistan, who has had most of his fights in Russia. Both would make their United States debut.
Yaqubov has won two fights in a row since getting knocked down in the 12th round and losing a wide decision to O’Shaquie Foster in a WBC title eliminator in March 2022 in Dubai. Foster would go on to claim the WBC title.
Garcia-Duarte site
Junior welterweight star Ryan Garcia’s ring return against Oscar Duarte in the 12-round main event of a Golden Boy card on DAZN on Dec. 2 was made official on Tuesday and on Friday the site was as well.
The fight will take place at the Toyota Center in Houston.
“I just found out that my fight will be in Houston, Texas! It will be at the Toyota center,” Garcia posted to social media. “See you soon, Houston.”
The arena is the home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets.
Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya confirmed the site in his own social media post.
The fight with Duarte (26-1-1, 21 KOs), 27, of Mexico, will be the first for Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs), 25, of Victorville, California, with new trainer Derrick James and his first fight since suffering his first loss via seventh-round knockout to Gervonta “Tank” Davis in their blockbuster Showtime PPV event in a much-anticipated 136-pound catch weight bout on April 22 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
No Tszyu celebration
As soon as the bell rang to begin what turned out to be Canelo Alvarez’s one-sided rout of Jermell Charlo to retain the undisputed super middleweight title last Saturday night in Las Vegas, Charlo, who was moving up two weight divisions, lost his status as the undisputed junior middleweight champion.
He knew ahead of time that when the fight began the WBO would strip him and elevate WBO interim titleholder Tim Tszyu to the organization’s full 154-pound titleholder.
Tszyu, the WBO mandatory challenger, whose January fight with Charlo was postponed due to Charlo’s fractured left hand and ultimately not rescheduled because he got the bigger fight with Alvarez, now has become one half of a father-son duo to both hold world titles. His father, Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu, is the former undisputed junior welterweight champion.
But Tszyu (23-0, 17 KOs), 28, of Australia, did not celebrate his official coronation as a world titleholder,
“There was no celebration, no nothing when Charlo stepped in the ring against Canelo and I became world champion,” Tszyu said. “I’ll feel like a world champion once this fight with (Brian) Mendoza is done.”
Tszyu will make his first defense of the full title against Mendoza on Oct. 14 (Showtime, 10:30 p.m. ET) at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in Broadbeach, Australia, where it will be Oct. 15.
“He’s a style I haven’t faced before and I know he thrives on that underdog mentality. So, he of course has my respect. But he’s in there with someone that's a different breed and it’s not going to end well for him,” Tszyu said of Mendoza. “I promise to turn any remaining non-believers into believers. This is my time and my division now.”
Mendoza (22-2, 16 KOs), 29, of Las Vegas, won the WBC interim belt via dramatic seventh-round upset knockout of Sebastian Fundora in April in a KO of the year contender. Mendoza was behind on all three scorecards.
“Fighting for the world title is an incredible opportunity and I’ll be ecstatic when I win, because the dream isn’t just to fight for the title, the dream is to bring it home to my family,” Mendoza said. “I’m finishing up training camp and feeling sharper than ever. I’m in the best shape of my life and ready to put on another explosive performance. I’m going in there to lay it all on the line, because I know that winning this fight will change my family’s life for generations to come.”
In the co-feature, rising Australian featherweight contender Sam Goodman (15-0, 7 KOs), 25, will face former world title challenger Miguel Flores (25-4-1, 12 KOs), 31, of Spring, Texas, in a 12-rounder. Flores is coming off a 10-round majority draw with former three-division titleholder Abner Mares 11 months ago.
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked the two major fights on Saturday: the Leigh Wood-Josh Warrington WBA featherweight title fight and the Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez-Joe Smith Jr. WBA cruiserweight eliminator. We also took viewer questions and comments and discussed the latest boxing news! Please check out the show here:
Quick hits
Weights from Sheffield, England for Saturday’s Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN: Leigh Wood 125.7 pounds, Josh Warrington 125.3 (for Wood’s WBA featherweight title); Terri Harper 150.4, Cecilia Braekhus 153.9 (for Harper’s WBA/vacant WBO women’s junior middleweight titles); Kieron Conway 159.6, Linus Udofia 159.4; Hopey Price 125.3, Connor Coghill 125.4; Junaid Bostan 155.7, Corey McCulloch 154.9; Nico Leivars 123.5, Ryan Walker 123.1; Cameron Vuong 137.4, Engel Gomez 138.1; Koby McNamara 117.8, Francisco Rodriguez 118.8.
Weights from Las Vegas for Saturday’s Golden Boy card on DAZN: Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez 191.6 pounds, Joe Smith Jr. 191.8 (WBA cruiserweight eliminator); Bektemir Melikuziev 167.6, Alantez Fox 167.2; Darius Fulghum 170.2, Alan Campa 168.8; Eric Tudor 153.4, Jose Luis Sanchez 153.8; Tristan Kalkreuth 199.2, Aaron Casper 193; Daniel Luna 133.8, Erick Benitez 134.2; Jahyae Brown 152.4, Victor Toney 156.4.
Weights from Tokyo for Saturday’s card at the Ota City General Gymnasium: Panya Pradabsri 104.7 pounds, Yudai Shigeoka 104.9 (for Pradabsri’s WBC strawweight title); Daniel Valladares 104.75, Ginjiro Shigeoka 105 (rematch, for Valladares IBF strawweight title); Tomoki Kameda 125.75, Lerato Dlamini 125.5 (IBF featherweight eliminator).
The Eye of the Tiger card headlined by Femke Hermans (16-4, 7 KOs), 33, of Belgium, and Mary Spencer (7-1, 5 KOs), 38, of Canada, for the vacant IBF women’s junior middleweight title will stream live on ESPN+ (7 p.m. ET) in the United States on Wednesday from Casino de Montreal, Top Rank announced. Top Rank has a deal with Eye of the Tiger to acquire U.S. rights for its events for ESPN+. The fight is a rematch of Hermans’ unanimous decision over Spencer in December. The entire eight-fight card will be shown, including the co-feature, a 10-round super middleweight bout between Canada’s Erik Bazinyan (30-0, 21 KOs), 28, and Ronald Ellis (18-3-2, 12 KOs),33, of Lynn, Massachusetts.
Middleweight Hamzah Sheeraz (18-0, 4 KOs), 24, will make the second defense of the Commonwealth title against former world title challenger and British countryman Liam Williams (24-4-1, 19 KOs), 31, on Dec. 2 (TNT Sports in the U.K.) at the Copper Box Arena in London, Queensberry Promotions announced on Friday. Williams has won his only fight since back-to-back decision losses to Chris Eubank Jr. in 2022 and Demetrius Andrade, who he challenged for the WBO middleweight title, in 2021. “It is definitely a great fight and a great fight for me at this stage of my career,” Sheeraz said. “If he were to beat me, he would be back on the scene again, but this is a fight I feel I am more than ready for. It is something I almost need to get the attention of the British public. He has fought for world titles, and it is definitely my hardest fight to date, but it is a challenge I am relishing, and I know what I can do.”
Promoter Alex Camponovo announced the second edition of his “New Blood” series for Nov. 4 (Fox Deportes 11 p.m. ET) at Infinite Reality Studios in Long Beach, California. Welterweight Louie Lopez (14-2-1, 5 KOs), of Corona, California, and Mexico’s Salvador Briceno (17-7, 11 KOs) will meet in the eight-round main event. Junior middleweight Alejandro Luis Silva (20-0-1, 15 KOs), of Argentina, will face an opponent to be announced in the eight-round co-feature.
Show and tell
Most boxing fans know Jack Johnson was the first Black heavyweight champion, doing so with his victory over Tommy Burns in 1908. Less known is that fellow Hall of Famer Joe Gans, nicknamed the “Old Master,” was the first African-American to win a world title, doing so when he knocked out Frank Erne in the first round (of their scheduled 20-rounder!) to claim the lightweight championship on May 12, 1902 in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada. Two years earlier, Erne defeated Baltimore’s Gans by 12th-round knockout to retain the title in their scheduled 25-rounder. Records for 19th and early 20th century boxers are by no means perfect and vary depending on the source, but Gans, who boxed from 1893 to 1909, made around 14 title defenses and mixed in numerous nontitle bouts while facing a who’s who of the era. He lost the title by 17th-round knockout (of a scheduled 45-rounder) to fellow HOFer Battling Nelson in 1908 in a rematch and by 21st-round KO in their rubber match two months later before boxing once more in a win in his final fight.
According to Boxrec, Gans’ final record was 147-10-6 with 101 KOs while the International Boxing Hall of Fame lists him as having a record of 120-8-9 with 18 no decisions and 85 KOs. Either way, Gans, who died of tuberculosis in 1910 at age 35, is regarded as one boxing’s all-time greats. I am very proud to have recently added this incredible card of Gans to my collection from the 1911 W.D. & H.O. Wills Green Stars and Circle Back set that was issued in England and came in packs of Wills Cigarettes. PSA has graded just 22 of these Gans cards and mine is one of only two in the population report graded 8, making it one of the two best examples since there are none graded 9 or 10.
Give the new podcast episode a listen! It includes my interview with Tim Tszyu, Wood-Warrington and Zurdo-Smith previews, discussion of Canelo-Charlo PPV numbers, Showtime’s possible year-end (franchise-end?) schedule, the new HOF ballot and much more!
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Photos: Ramirez-Smith: Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy; Charlo: Sean Michael Ham/TGB Promotions; Garcia: Ryan Hafey/PBC; Wood-Warrington: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
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Such a cool Gans card, Dan. Free with a pack of smokes!
Color me interested in Lipinets vs. Rivera. Jermall Charlo vs. Jose Benavidez, Jr., not so much.