Zurdo unifies with win over Billam-Smith, more results from Riyadh

Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez unified the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles today in Riyadh, beating Chris Billam-Smith in a rugged main event that deserves major credit on both sides.

Ramirez took the fight on scores of 116-112, 116-112, and 116-113, a clear win in a very competitive fight where Billam-Smith, as always, simply would not go away.

Billam-Smith (20-2, 13 KO) saw his 11-fight win streak come to an end, but he was pushing to win the fight the entire way. As usual, Billam-Smith appeared to be pretty low on energy by the middle rounds, but also as usual, he gutted through that with an incredible determination, this time also fighting through a pretty nasty cut on his eyelid that had to be impairing his vision at least a bit.

He was also facing arguably a career-best opponent in Ramirez (47-1, 30 KO), who appears to have really settled into his best form as a cruiserweight, not cutting so much weight before fights and looking strong and very capable of hanging with the top dogs at this weight, and at this point, the only level he hasn’t tested even just two fights into his cruiserweight campaign would be Jai Opetaia, who holds the IBF belt.

(The WBC title is held by Norair Mikaeljan, who is linked to Don King and therefore that’s sort of an inactive belt at the moment.)

Arnold Barboza Jr beats Jose Ramirez over distance

Ramirez (29-2, 18 KO) just looked like a much older 32 than his opponent, and Barboza (31-0, 11 KO) had a really nice bounce-back in form from his April gift win over Sean McComb. If Barboza had grown bored going into that fight, it’d be kind of understandable, but the good news would be that he took it as a wake-up call and got back to business.

Barboza wasn’t amazing here or anything, but he won this fight solidly and clearly. Scores were 96-94, 96-94, and 97-93, and those are close as you could reasonably score the fight, and I thought it was tough to find four rounds for Ramirez, who looked trigger-shy a lot of the fight, wasn’t getting his shots off confidently, and was stuck at the end of Barboza’s tempo-controlling jab too often.

Barboza is now a locked contender at 140 for the time being, and you’d hope he finally gets a title opportunity soon, but it’s a weird division with the belts right now, too.

For Ramirez, we’ve seen this sort of thing happen to him before, even in wins. When opponents open up for a firefight, he excels. When opponents can control their own tempo with a jab, he has a habit of being lulled into a duller fight that does not benefit his own skill set.

William Zepeda edges past Tevin Farmer

Zepeda (32-0, 27 KO) got dropped in the fourth round of this fight, a bit more than a “flash” knockdown but not something that had him in real trouble, just a peach of a shot that landed clean. But he deserved this win, which came on a split decision with all three judges scoring the fight 95-94, two to Zepeda and one to Farmer.

Bad Left Hook scored the fight slightly wider, but just slightly, at 96-93 for Zepeda. Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KO) gave a tremendous effort in this fight, and though this is two straight losses, the losses have come at pretty high level. It’s heartbreaking for Farmer to come this close this time, especially, but the world has seen that he still has plenty to offer. There will be “gatekeeper” type offers going forward, and while that’s not what he wants his career to be, there will be more chances to upset some guys, and one of those times he might just do it.

Zepeda, 28, has flaws, and he is a finished product. Fighters at this stage don’t change that much going forward, he’s not going to become defensively sound, that’s always going to be an issue. He will win or lose based on what he’s got as it stands now. He can maybe correct minor issues, but he will always be iffy defensively.

The plan now is for Zepeda to face Shakur Stevenson in 2025 for Stevenson’s WBC title. Zepeda was awarded the WBC’s interim belt in this one despite it only being a 10-round fight, because sanctioning bodies have no actual standards and they make up their own rules, so they can follow them or not, it doesn’t really matter. But Zepeda was already in place as the No. 1 contender, anyway, they just got some sanctioning money from this.

This fight also achieved its main purpose, which was to get Zepeda in with someone who can at least sort of replicate the experience of fighting a technician like Stevenson. Zepeda may simply not be able to beat Shakur, but he’s now as ready as he can really get, and his power, cardio, and output will always give him some chance.

Oscar Collazo now unified at 105

Collazo, 27, ripped from Niyomtrong’s hands whatever torch the long-reigning Thai titleholder still held, scoring three knockdowns and a seventh round stoppage to add the WBA title to his already-held WBO belt.

Collazo (11-0, 8 KO) was clearly the younger, stronger, fresher man in this fight, as Niyomtrong (25-1, 9 KO) came in with just one fight since 2022, and that was only two months ago, and it wasn’t an easy one. Along with his age — 34 is pushing hard for a 105 lb fighter — and time off, that quick turnaround might not have been the best thing for the man also known as “Knockout CP Freshmart,” but time was ticking anyway.

Niyomtrong was down once in the sixth and twice in the seventh before referee Ricky Gonzalez called it off without a count on the third knockdown. It was a pretty dominant performance for Collazo, who has clearly staked his claim as the top fighter in the minimumweight division.

Collazo’s plan is to become the first undisputed, four-belt champ in the division’s history, and right now the odds look good for him, he’s a terrific fighter.

More results

• Oscar Duarte UD-10 Batyr Akhmedov: Good, hard-nosed fight, and another tough loss for Akhmedov, who falls to 10-4 (9 KO) but is a damn sight better a fighter than that win-loss percentage would lead you to think. Duarte (28-2-1, 22 KO) got scores of 96-94, 97-93, and 98-92, but it was more competitive than that last one would make you think, although my belief is the judges got the winner right in a tough fight. Duarte did the more obvious damage, but Akhmedov also rolled with the handful of times he was fairly clearly rocked, and he still has something to offer at 33, he’s not going to be some easy out if he becomes more of a gatekeeper type; he’d be a high-end gatekeeper, a legit test to pass. Duarte keeps himself active as a potential contender at 135/140.
• Ziyad Almaayouf D-6 Juan Garcia: A joke result, as Garcia (5-6-1, 0 KO) was absolutely and clearly the winner of this fight, but we’re going to continue to endure the idea that Almaayouf (6-0-1, 1 KO) is a real prospect with high-level upside. It’s easy to understand, because of how boxing actually works, the desire to have a star Saudi boxer. But to genuinely produce that, it takes real time, and Almaayouf is not that guy. This is his second straight fight where he’s gone to a draw, and the last one got overturned to a DQ win for Ziyad because the opponent — a low-level club fighter — reportedly failed a post-fight drug test in California. If Saudi Arabia develops a serious amateur program, more for the long-term training than results in amateur competitions, then yes, a star or several will develop. But the ones who might do that may currently be about six years old, too. Almaayouf is 24 and unlikely to get much better than he is now, there is a clear lack of skills that even someone as low-level as Garcia took full advantage of in this fight. Commentary was very careful with their words, but nobody honest could watch this fight and think Ziyad deserved better than a loss.