Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez says a fight between himself and IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia would not be a “50-50″ fight for him. Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs) says he has “the best chance” to beat everyone in the division, including Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs). Opetaia could be next for Ramirez, so he has to back up what he says.
(Credit: Golden Boy/Cris Esqueda)
Fans believe that Ramirez has zero chance of beating Opetaia and will be eliminated. Opetaia is seen as a bigger, stronger and younger version of Dmitry Bivol. Ramirez lost to Bivol via a twelve-round unanimous decision in 2022, but it could be worse for him if he faces Opetaia.
The 33-year-old Ramirez added the WBO cruiserweight title to his existing WBA belt by defeating the champ. Chris Billiam-Smith (20-2, 13 KOs) on Saturday’s Latin Night at The Venue in Saudi Arabia. It was hard to believe that Billiam-Smith was a world champion because he looked no better than British level.
The cruiserweight division is weak in terms of talent, allowing fighters like Billiam-Smith and Zurdo Ramirez to win titles they otherwise couldn’t if they were fighting at light heavyweight or super middleweight.
In that fight, Ramirez took a lot of heavy shots from Billiam-Smith, but he rallied and overcame the rather limited fight to win a 12-round unanimous decision by scores of 116-112, 116-112, 116-113).
“It looked like he was throwing hard punches, but he didn’t do anything to me,” said Gilberto Ramirez to Boxing King Media when asked if he was affected by Chris Billiam-Smith’s punches in his win over him on Saturday.
If Billiam-Smith had a good set of wheels and better conditioning, he would have hit Ramirez and hurt him with something big enough to knock him over. Billiam-Smith was hitting Ramirez hard with punches, but could not take advantage of his power due to his stamina and lack of mobility.
“It’s not 50-50. I think I have the best chance to beat everybody in this division,” Ramirez said when he said fans believed a fight between him and IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia would be “50-50.” .
I don’t think Ramirez has much of a chance to beat Opetaia because he is too slow and easy to hit. The only chance that Ramirez has against him is if he can beat him in a war, going through the shots and work. We saw how much Mairis Briedis did against Opetaia in his rematch. It’s possible Ramirez can do the same thing.
“Everybody saw what we did in the ring, and now everybody’s talking about me. It’s the second time I beat a champion in the division, and now people think I’m the real deal,” Ramirez said. “I know I’m the best cruiserweight in the division.”
Few fans watched the Latino Night event on DAZN on Saturday night. Fans who saw Ramirez beat Billiam-Smith and former WBA champion Arsen Goulamirian weren’t impressed enough to believe he could defeat Opetaia or even be competitive.
