Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez In position for mega-fights in 2025
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 07 Jan 2025
LOS ANGELES (January 6, 2025) –- Unified World Cruiserweight Champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs) has ideally positioned himself for mega-fights in 2025 with some of boxing’s brightest stars after his remarkable 2024 campaign, in which he added the World Boxing Organization (WBO) title to his World Boxing Association (WBA) crown this past November 16th with a masterful 12-round unanimous decision over defending WBO title holder Chris “The Gentleman” Billam-Smith (20-2, 13 KOs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In 2016, Ramirez became the first Mexican boxer to capture a super middleweight world title (WBO) and the gifted Mexican duplicated that unprecedented feat, albeit in a higher weight class, last March 30th in against defending WBA Cruiserweight World titleholder Arsen “Feroz” Goulamirian (21-0, 14 KOs) in a dominant performance, winning 10 of 12 rounds on each of the three judges’ scorecards. Now, he is also the first Mexican to unify the world cruiserweight titles.
“Zurdo” should have been a 2024 Fighter of the Year candidate, at the very least, after winning two world titles in dominating fashion. He defeated a pair of world champions who entered the ring to fight him sporting a combined 47-1 (32 KOs) record and he won 18 of 24 total rounds. Neither defending champion was ever really in their fight with Ramirez, who used his entire arsenal to stymie Goulamirian, and after blasting Billam-Smith early in their fight, “Zurdo” cruised to victory leaving the tough Brit looking like he had been in a car crash.
“I’m excited to be in this position but the job is not done yet,” Ramires said. “My goal has always been to leave a legacy in this sport and I’m looking forward to becoming an undisputed champion this year. Many options have been presented to my team and I from Dorticos to Badou Jack and Jai Opetaia. We’ll just have to see what the future holds. Dorticos would be my WBA mandatory, Badou Jack is someone that’s been avoiding me since my super middleweight days, and Jai has a couple of the belts I want. It’s going to be a great 2025.”
Here’s a look at some of the options “Zurdo” has for 2025:
Jai Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) – The undefeated International Boxing Federation (IBF) World Cruiserweight Champion is scheduled to make a defense this week against David Nyika (10-0, 9 KOs). Assuming the heavy-handed Australian gets past Nyika, “Zurdo” vs. Opetia has all the makings of a classic Boxer vs. Puncher encounter. Clearly this is the most appealing cruiserweight matchup, especially if both fighters’ goal is to be the Undisputed King of the Cruiserweights.
Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) – The gifted Ukrainian is the Unified World Heavyweight Champion heading into his rematch with former world champion Tyson Fury on December 21st. Reports have Usyk seriously considering his return to the cruiserweight division, which he dominated from 2016 to 2018 before he moved up to fight as a relatively “small” heavyweight.
David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) – The World Boxing Council (WBC) Interim Light Heavyweight Champion defends his title February 1st against David Morrell. If the Phoenix native makes a successful title defense, he’s not going to get a shot at the winner of the February 22nd Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol rematch until much later in 2025, if at all. Benavidez is already frustrated from waiting so long for his world light heavyweight title shot against Beterbiev or Bivol. His camp has mentioned the possibility of him moving up to the cruiserweight division, openly targeting “Zurdo.” Benavidez knows “Zurdo” and has trained at Ramirez’ gym, Brickhouse Boxing Club in North Hollywood, California.
Yuniel Dorticos (27-2, 25 KOs) – The WBA’s No. 1 mandatory challenger has fought only once in the past two years, last June in a tune-up fight, but the Cuban power puncher could be next if “Zurdo” decides to get his mandatory out of the way prior to fighting any of the aforementioned fighters.
If Ramirez’ immediate goal is to own all four major world cruiserweight crowns, eventually, he’ll need to capture the WBC title that has been held hostage by Noel Miklaelian (27-2, 12 KOs), reportedly due to issues with his promoter, Don King. Miklaelian has been named Champion in Recess and replaced as the WBC Champion by Badou Jack (28-3-3, 17 KOs), who had been the WBC Champion In Recess.
There’s always Jake Paul (11-1, 7 KOs), the You-Tuber and social media influencer who said after his win over Mike Tyson that he wants to fight for the world cruiserweight title in 2025. Paul represents a potential gold mine for “Zurdo” in a cash grab.
Although “Zurdo” has repeatedly said that his immediate goal is to unify the world cruiserweight titles before moving up to bridgerweight and eventually heavyweight, however, unifying all four titles is an incredibly difficult task because of all the mandatory fights. If that’s the case, though, Ramirez also has the option to challenge WBA Bridgerweight Champion Muslim Gadhimagomedov or WBC titlist Kevin Lerena, whether it’s a one-and-done or not.
The 33-year-old “Zurdo” Ramirez is unquestionably in the driver’s seat having more options than a college quarterback running a high-octane RPO attack.
INFORMATION:
Website: www.ZurdoPromotions.com
Facebook: /ZurdoPromotions /GilbertoZurdoRamirez
Instagram: @zurdoramirez @zurdopromotions
Twitter: @ZurdoPromotions @GilbertoZurdoRamirez
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