FIGHT WEEK

Gentle heavyweight contenders Gilberto Ramirez and Joe Smith Jr. are scheduled to fulfill in Las Vegas. In the meantime, in England, Leigh Wooden will defend his 126-pound title towards Josh Warrington.

LEIGH WOOD (27-3, 16 KOs) VS.
JOSH WARRINGTON (31-2-1, 8 KOs)

  • Date: Saturday, Oct. 7
  • Time: 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT (most important occasion later in present)
  • The place: Sheffield Enviornment, Sheffield, England
  • TV/Stream: DAZN
  • Division: Featherweight (126 kilos)
  • At stake: Wooden’s WBA title
  • Odds: Wooden 2½-1 favourite (common of a number of retailers)
  • Pound-for-pound: None
  • Additionally on the cardboard: Terri Harper vs. Cecilia Braekhus, junior middleweights (for Harper’s WBA and vacant WBO titles); Kieron Conway vs. Linus Udofia, middleweights; Hopey Worth vs. Connor Coghill, featherweights
  • Prediction: Wooden UD
  • Background: Wooden can be preventing to remain on prime, Warrington to get again there on this compelling All-Briton matchup. Wooden, a 35-year-old from Nottingham, is a two-time 126-pound titleholder. He bounced again from a devasting seventh-round knockout towards Mauricio Lara in February to simply outpoint the Mexican and regain the belt he misplaced within the first combat. The primary assembly with Lara adopted one of many most-thrilling battles in years, through which Wooden knocked Michael Conlan out of the ring within the closing spherical to win by knockout a combat he had been dropping. Warrington, a 32-year-old from Leeds, is also a two-time featherweight champ. He battled again from a knockout loss and draw with Lara to take Kiko Martinez’s belt by knockout in March of final yr however misplaced it to Luis Alberto Lopez by majority resolution in his most up-to-date combat, in December. He’s 1-2-1 in his final 4 fights.

 

GILBERTO RAMIREZ (44-1, 30 KOs)
VS. JOE SMITH JR. (28-4, 22 KOs)

  • Date: Saturday, Oct. 7
  • Time: 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT (most important occasion later in present)
  • The place: The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas
  • TV/Stream: DAZN
  • Division: Gentle heavyweight (175 kilos)
  • At stake: No main titles
  • Odds: NA
  • Pound-for-pound: None
  • Additionally on the cardboard: John Ramirez vs. Ronal Batista, junior bantamweights; Bektemir Melikuziev vs. Alantez Fox, tremendous middleweights
  • Prediction: Ramirez UD
  • Background: Ramirez and Smith will each be making an attempt to bounce again from damaging losses. Ramirez, a former 168-pound titleholder, gained 5 consecutive fights after transferring as much as 175 however met his match in gifted champion Dmitry Bivol, who handed the 32-year-old Mexican his first skilled defeat by a one-sided unanimous resolution final November. Smith, a restricted technician with immense energy, gained a light-weight heavyweight title by outpointing Jesse Hart in 2020 and efficiently defended thrice. Then he ran right into a monster in Artur Beterbiev, who wanted lower than two full rounds to knock out Smith in a title-unification bout on June 18. The winner on Saturday will take a big step towards a shot at one other belt. The loser, notably if he loses badly, may very well be in for an uphill battle to stay a serious participant within the division.

 

ALSO FIGHTING THIS WEEK

WEDNESDAY

  • Pablo Cesar Cano vs. Zachary Ochoa, junior welterweights, Plant Metropolis, Florida (ProBox TV)

SATURDAY

  • Evelin Nazarena Bermudez vs. Kim Clavel, junior flyweights (for Bermudez’s IBF and WBO titles), Laval, Quebec (No TV in U.S.)
  • Daniel Valladares vs. Ginjiro Shigeoka, strawweights (for Valladares’ IBF title), Tokyo (No TV in U.S.)