Irrespective of the newfound friendship between Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn and Queensberry’s Frank Warren, the battle between promotions is as fierce as ever as top players in the sport each claim to be both the best promoters in the game and in possession of the strongest stables.
However, the claim to the throne of Oscar De La Hoya and his ‘Golden Boy Promotions’ may be weakened after an announcement that one of his world champions has become a free agency.
Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez became Mexico’s first-ever super-middleweight champion when he whitewashed Arthur Abraham in 2016 to take possession of the WBO belt.
Ramirez then went on to make five defences of his title before moving up to light-heavyweight in 2019, before signing with De La Hoya’s outfit two years later with the aim of becoming a two-division world champion, following a relatively inactive spell.
Wins against Sullivan Barrera, Yunieski Gonzalez and Dominic Boesel were enough to position Zurdo for that title shot but he came up short against WBA champion Dmitry Bivol, who put an end to Ramirez’s 44-fight unbeaten record – winning the 2022 Fighter Of The Year award after defeating Canelo Alvarez six months prior.
With the division seemingly held up by the imminent undisputed title clash between Bivol and Artur Beterbiev, Ramirez made the decision to move up once again and pursue world honours in the lesser-stacked cruiserweight division.
The 32-year-old southpaw challenged WBA title-holder Arsen Goulamirian on his debut at the weight and displayed the same skills that he has shown throughout his career to win a comfortable decision win – once again becoming the first Mexican to conquer the weight-class.
However, Ramirez’s current deal with Golden Boy Promotions has expired, as he potentially hunts down possible unification bouts in the 200lb scene, Boxing Scene reports.
“The future holds endless possibilities,”
“I’m excited to embark on this journey as a free agent. My ultimate goal is to unify the cruiserweight division and become the undisputed champion. It’s a challenging path, but I’m fully committed to putting in the hard work and dedication required to achieve that feat.
“As a champion, I have the flexibility to pursue the opportunities that will bring me closer to my goal and allow me to showcase my skills on the global stage. I’m looking forward to whatever the future holds and am determined to leave my mark on the sport of boxing.”
At the time of writing, Ramirez’s fellow cruiserweight champions are Jai Opetaia (IBF & The Ring), Noel Mikaeljan (WBC) and Chris Billam-Smith (WBO), although the latter defends his belt in a tough domestic dust-up against Richard Riakporhe in two weeks’ time.
Meanwhile, Mikaeljan was scheduled to face Ryan Rozicki for a first defence of his WBC crown on the undercard of Adrien Broner’s June 7th showdown with Blair Cobbs, but a cut to the Armenian has caused the bout to be postponed.
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