Billam-Smith to face Ramirez in unification bout

The next initiation of the Riyadh season was announced on Tuesday. England's Chris Billam-Smith, WBO cruiserweight champion (21-1 13 KOs), will face WBA champion Mexican Gilberto 'Zurdo' Ramirez (47-1 30 KOs), in a cruiserweight title unification in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on16th November. 

The main event will headline a five-fight Riyadh season "Latino night" card promoted by Oscar de la Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions and also co-promoted by Ben Shalom's Boxxer. Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia's general entertainment authority, said the event will be broadcast globally for free. 

"This card features some of the best Latino fighters around and continue our drive to deliver top-tier boxing events by giving fans throughout the world the fights they want to see," Alalshikh said. 

De la Hoya, Golden Boy chairman and CEO, stated, "His Excellency and I have the same vision to match the best versus the best for the fans of the sport". 

The previously reported former WBC, WBO super lightweight champion Jose Ramirez (29-1 18 KOs) vs unbeaten contender Arnold Barboza (30-1 11 KOs) will be the co-main event super lightweight attraction. Undefeated William Zepeda (31-0 27 KOs), who has signed a deal to fight Shakur Stevenson in the first quarter of 2025, will feature on the card against former champion Tevin Farmer. 

Puerto Rico's Oscar Collazo (10-0 7 KOs) will defend his WBO straw-weight title against Mexico's Edwin Cano (13-2-1 4 KOs). Also, another Mexican on the card, Oscar Duarte (27-2-1 22 KOs), will face Chicago's Kenny Sims (21-2 8 KOs) in a 140lbs bout. 

Ramirez became the first fighter from Mexico to win the cruiserweight title when he defeated Arsen Goulamirian for the WBA belt in March. 

'The Gentleman', as Billam-Smith is known, captured the WBO title, defeating former stablemate Lawrence Okolie at Bournemouth's Vitality stadium back in May 2023. This will be Billam-Smith, 34, his third defence of his title, who will be looking at the WBA belt on his road to becoming undisputed at Cruiserweight, following in the footsteps of Oleksandr Usyk. 

Ramirez, 33, who previously held the WBO super-middleweight title between 2016 and 2019, has more experience than Billam-Smith and, on his resume alone, will be the toughest test to date. He is coming off a June unanimous decision over Richard Riakphore.