Gilberto Ramirez vs Chris Billam-Smith – Results & Post-Fight Report

Riyadh Season hosted a Latino night, and Gilberto Ramirez added the WBO cruiserweight title to his WBA belt, as he took a high-octane points win against Chris Billam-Smith.

A former WBO super middleweight champion, Ramirez (47-1, KO30) moved to cruiserweight last year, and after a wide points win over Joe Smith Jr, he took the WBA belt with a ten rounds to two rout of Arsen Goulamirian in March. Billam-Smith (20-2, KO13) won the WBO strap in a scrappy majority decision victory over Lawrence Okolie in May last year, and he was last out in June, gaining revenge on Richard Riakporhe with a points win at Selhurst Park.

Billam-Smith made a very bright start in the opening round, connecting with several solid blows, but Ramirez found a groove from round two, landing a sharp left hand that buzzed the Englishman, and his combinations were troubling the WBO boss. The fourth saw Billam-Smith bloodied by the nose, as Ramirez landed a superb right hand and some impressive combinations to the body, and he was breaking his opponent down with the sheer volume of punches he was landing with.

Ramirez kept his foot on the gas, with the doctor taking a look at the Billam-Smith eye ahead of round seven, and although the Bournemouth man kept working hard, he was struggling to deal with the cumulative effect of Ramirez’s work. Billam-Smith did rally down the stretch, but he couldn’t find the blows to dent Ramirez’s spirit, and the Mexican was able to remain accurate enough to hold his man at bay, and after the pair left it all in the ring in the final round, it was down to the scorecards.

Two scores of 116-112 and a third at 116-113 ensured Ramirez went home a unified world champion.

The WBO super lightweight title eliminator on the card failed to catch fire, but Arnold Barboza Jr (31-0, KO11) did enough to take a ten round decision win against former unified world champion, Jose Carlos Ramirez (29-2, KO18). It was a stop-start affair, but Barboza had the better of the argument in the main, and ran out a winner by two scores of 96-94 and one at 97-93.

The interim WBC lightweight title went the way of William Zepeda (32-0, KO27), as he took a razor-thin points win against Tevin Farmer (33-7-1, KO8), getting off the floor in the process. Zepeda was decked in the fourth round, a massive left hand having him on the canvas, and the contest went the full ten rounds, where Zepeda, took two scores of 95-94, against a third score for the same tally for former world champion Farmer.

Oscar Collazo (11-0, KO8) defended his WBO minimumweight world title for a fourth time, and he dazzled with a seventh round stoppage win against Thammanoon Niyomtrong (25-1, KO9). Niyomtrong was down in round six, and twice more before the stoppage.

Oscar Duarte (28-2-1, KO22) won his super lightweight ten rounder on points against Botirzhon Akhmedov (10-4, KO9). Duarte triumphed by scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94.

Welterweight prospect Ziyad Almaayouf (6-0-1, KO1)suffered a setback, as he was held to a draw over six rounds against Juan Carlos Ramirez Garcia (5-6-1, KO0). One judge had Almaayouf a 58-56 winner, but two scores of 57-57 ensured the fight was a stalemate.