Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez claims that a fight between him and IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia wouldn’t be a “50-50″ fight for him. Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs) states that he has “the best chance” of beating everyone in the division, including Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs). Opetaia could be next for Ramirez, so he must back up what he says.
(Credit: Golden Boy/Cris Esqueda)
Fans believe Ramirez has zero chance of beating Opetaia and will be knocked out. Opetaia is seen as a bigger, stronger, and younger version of Dmitry Bivol. Ramirez lost to Bivol by a one-sided 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 champion Chris Billiam-Smith (20-2, 13 KOs) on Saturday’s Latino Night at The Venue in Saudi Arabia. It was hard to believe Billiam-Smith was a world champion because he looked no better than the 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 fought at light heavyweight or super middleweight.
In that fight, Ramirez took many heavy shots from Billiam-Smith but outworked and outboxed the rather limited-looking fighter to win a 12-round unanimous decision by the scores of 116-112, 116-112, 116-113).
“It seemed like he was throwing hard punches, but it didn’t do anything to me,” said Gilberto Ramirez to Boxing King Media when asked if he was affected by the punches from Chris Billiam-Smith in his win over him on Saturday.
If Billiam-Smith had a good set of wheels and better conditioning, he would have caught up to Ramirez and hurt him with something big enough to knock him out. Billiam-Smith was hitting Ramirez a lot with punches, but he couldn’t take advantage of his power due to his stamina and lack of mobility.
“I don’t know about 50-50. I think I have the best chance of beating everyone in this division,” said Ramirez when told that fans believe a fight between him and IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia would be a “50-50” one.
I don’t think Ramirez has much of any chance of beating Opetaia because he’s too slow and easy to hit. The only chance Ramirez has against him is if he can beat him in a war, walking through shots and outworking him. We saw how well Mairis Briedis did against Opetaia in their rematch. It’s possible Ramirez can do the same thing.
“Everyone saw what we did in the ring, and now everyone is talking about me. This is the second time I’ve beat a champion in the division, and now people think I’m the real deal,” said Ramirez. “I know I’m the best cruiserweight in the division.”
Not many fans saw the Latino Night event on DAZN last Saturday night. The fans that did see Ramirez beat Billiam-Smith and former WBA champion Arsen Goulamirian weren’t impressed enough to believe he could defeat Opetaia or even be competitive.
