Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez Vs. Joe Smith Jr. This Saturday, October 7th On DAZN

By Dan Ambrose: Former world champions Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez & Joe Smith Jr. will meet this Saturday evening in a twelve spherical cruiserweight contest at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

There’s nearly zero buzz in regards to the Ramirez-Smith battle, as each guys are coming off of losses and lengthy layoffs.

Ramirez (44-1, 30 KOs) was beforehand scheduled to battle journeyman Gabriel Rosado final March, however the 32-year-old Zurdo didn’t make weight for the sunshine heavyweight contest, and it was subsequently canceled.

It was dangerous sufficient that Ramirez was utilizing tremendous middleweight Rosado, who had misplaced 5 out of his earlier fights, however when he weighed in over the 175-lb restrict, there was no means the battle might happen. Rosado would been dwarfed contained in the ring with the cruiserweight-sized Ramirez.

The Zurdo vs. Smith Jr. occasion is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and can be proven on DAZN beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Zurdo Ramirez misplaced his final battle towards WBA mild heavyweight champion  Dmitry Bivol in a one-sided defeat final November in Abu Dhabi.

Ramirez was utterly overmatched by the a lot quicker & extra expert Bivol in a failed title problem. Going into the battle, Ramirez’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, had talked about how Zurdo was going to avenge Canelo Alvarez’s defeat towards Bivol and get one again for Mexico, but it surely was a sick mismatch. Ramirez was too gradual, too restricted & too unskilled to take care of Bivol.

Former WBO mild heavyweight champion Smith Jr (28-4, 22 KOs) was knocked out within the second spherical in his final battle by IBF & WBC champ Artur Beterbiev in June of final 12 months.

“Individuals are all the time going to speak and criticize. I gained’t hearken to these individuals. I’m solely going to hearken to people who find themselves on high of me and that they’re actually working onerous for his or her targets,” mentioned Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez to Sebastian Joseph Milo’s channel in responding to criticism from boxing followers, who assume he not has it after dropping to Dmitry Bivol final 12 months and failing to make weight for a canceled battle towards Gabriel Rosado.

“For the Gabriel Rosado battle, I didn’t make the burden. My physique didn’t let me. I labored onerous that very same day for the weigh-in however didn’t make it. I’m shifting ahead and shifting up a division for brand spanking new challenges.

“Now, I’ve this battle with Joe Smith Jr., and it’s going to be an attention-grabbing battle for me and for a lot of of my followers as properly. I’m extra hungry now, hungry for victory. I wish to really feel that power and that feeling once more,” mentioned Gilberto.