This Saturday plays host to the latest instalment of ‘Riyadh Season’, where Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez collides with Chris Billam-Smith in a battle for the unified cruiserweight world titles. Just days before the pair meet, one fight on their undercard has received a significant update.
As is the case in the main-event, each contest on the ‘Latino Night’ bill features a fighter of Latino heritage, with the likes of Oscar Collazo, William Zepeda and Oscar Duarte all scheduled to appear on the card.
However, in one of the closest affairs of the event, two Latino’s will go head-to-head as Jose Carlos Ramirez and Arnold Barboza Jr. meet in a clash that will likely provide the victor with a world title shot during 2025 – or so it was thought.
The fight between Ramirez and Barboza Jr. was scheduled to be a 12-round contest in an eliminator for the WBO super-lightweight title, with Barboza currently holding the WBO Inter-Continental strap and positioned as the mandatory challenger for Teofimo Lopez’s world title – who he has been demanding to fight during 2024.
Yet, it has now been confirmed that Barboza has refused to pay the WBO sanctioning fees due to frustrations at the WBO, who have not yet enforced his mandatory shot at Lopez.
The Jose Ramirez-Arnold Barboza fight has been downgraded from a 12-round title eliminator to a 10-rounder. Barboza told @DAZNBoxing that he had no interest in paying @WorldBoxingOrg sanctioning fees, citing the WBO’s refusal to mandate his title shot.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) November 13, 2024
During Golden Boy Promotions’ live stream for the media workout this week, Barboza explained his decision.
“I haven’t had issues [with the WBO] personally, but in the past four or five fights I have paid sanctioning fees and I haven’t got a title shot. I fought Alex Saucedo, I fought who I had to fight, and I haven’t got a title shot.”
“I hope that I can get a title shot from any organization, but it got to the point where, I mean that is actually money coming out of my pocket for my kids.”
Meanwhile, WBO president Gustavo Olivieri has since told Boxing Scene that the fight was ‘never ordered or sanctioned’ as an eliminator in the first place.
As a result, Ramirez and Barboza Jr. will instead meet in a 10-round bout on Saturday night as one of the highlight attractions on the intriguing Ramirez-Billam-Smith card.
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