Golden Boy Promotions’ card, sponsored by Riyadh Season, presented a “Latino Night” event that featured an array of Hispanic fighters in pivotal matches. Taking a part in the main event, Mexican WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto Ramirez would achieve history on the night after defeating British WBO cruiserweight by unanimous-decision to become the unified champion of the division. The card was staged at The Venue Riyadh Season in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 16.

Gilberto Ramirez Vs. Chris Billam-Smith

Gilberto Ramirez (47-1, 30 KO’s) and Chris Billam-Smith (20-2, 13 KO’s) put their respective WBA and WBO cruiserweight (200 lbs) titles on the line in the first unification match since 2018 when Ukrainian champion Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KO’s) defeated Russian champion Murat Gassiev (31-2, 24 KO’s) in 2018 to become the undisputed champion of the division.

While the 12-round bout went decisively in favor of Gilberto Ramirez, the match was competitive as Chris Billam-Smith appeared to take his fair share of rounds in the early half of the fight to make it close. However, it was Ramirez who excelled on the night through his power and resilience.

The most glaring factor of the match was the lack of defense displayed by both fighters as they often engaged in brawls in the pocket. Billam-Smith landed the bulk of the power punches thrown but it was Ramirez’ which had more of an impact as he would go on to stun Smith several times throughout the bout.

Despite the damage he took, Smith was the more active fighter, throwing roughly 70 punches more than Ramirez who reigned when it came to overall efficiency. While there were attempts by Chris Billam-Smith to get back in the fight, his best moments came early on in the beginning half of the fight. Gilberto Ramirez had the larger impact through his power and body punches he managed to land, either wobbling or stunning Billam-Smith several times throughout the bout. A lack of footwork and head movement also characterized Billam-Smith’s susceptibility to Ramirez’ punches.

The latter half of the fought seemed to fall almost entirely in favor of Gilberto Ramirez as the bout went on as the damage that Chris Billam-Smith accrued sunk in. However, much to Billam-Smith’s own credit, he had spurts of his own where he gave Ramirez trouble and still forced the Mexican fighter to be careful in his approach.

Following the completion of the 12 rounds, Gilberto Ramirez as announced the winner by unanimous decision (UD) through scores of 116-112 twice and 116-113. Ramirez also became the first Mexican fighter to become a unified cruiserweight champion after winning Billam-Smith’s WBO belt alongside his own WBA 200 lbs title.

Undercard Fights

• At minimumweight (105 lbs), another unification fight occurred as American-Puerto Rican WBO champion Oscar Collazo (11-0, 8 KO’s) fought against Thai WBA “super” champion Thammanoon Niyomtrong (25-1, 9 KO’s), also known as Knockout CP Freshmart. Collazo would put up a stupendous performance as he carved out a technical knockout (TKO) win over Niyomtrong after stopping the Thai champion in the 7th round of their 12-round bout to become the unified minimumweight champion.

• At super lightweight (140 lbs), American contenders Jose Carlos Ramirez (29-2, 18 KO’s) and Arnold Barboza Jr. (31-0, 11 KO’s) engaged in a competitive bout that Barboza won through sheer grit, outworking Ramirez to win by UD through scores of 97-93 and 96-94 twice.

• A lightweight (135 lbs) title bout between #1 contender William Zepeda (32-0, 27 KO’s) from Mexico and American contender Tevin Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KO’s) nearly became an upset as the two fighters vied for the vacant WBC interim title over 10 rounds.
  
  Farmer fought well, pushing Zepeda to the brink and even managing to knock him down in the 4th round to nearly turn the match upside down. Both fighters were evenly-matched with the punch efficiency largely equal, though Zepeda was the more active fighter by around 200 punches. It was therefore largely Zepeda’s activity that swayed most of the judges as he would be announced the winner by split-decision (SD) with scores of 95-94 twice and 94-95.
  
  Zepeda became the WBC interim lightweight champion as a result and appears poised to face WBC world champion Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KO’s), depending on the sanctioning body’s decision to order a bout between the two.