Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez 46-1 (30) showed he belongs amongst the elite at cruiserweight after a comfortable unanimous decision win over Arsen ‘Feroz’ Goulamirian 27-1 (19) to claim the WBA 200-pound title at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California on Saturday night.
The 32-year-old Mexican southpaw was busier, sharper and more accurate with his punches, leading to a victory by scores of 108-110 across the board.
Ramirez, a former WBO super middleweight champion, entered the fight with just one bout under his belt above light heavyweight. That was a 192-pound 10-round catchweight bout against natural 175-pounder Joe Smith Jr in October that he won on points.
At almost six-foot-three, Ramirez always looked like he had the frame to compete at 200-pounds, but on Saturday night he proved it.
“Dreams come true. Los sueños se hacen realidad,” said Ramirez. “Thank you to everyone who supported me and believed in me and also those who didn’t give me a chance. Thank you because it gave me great motivation, this is not just my new belt, this is the result of all the hard work of my team.
“I worked hard every day and I feel so proud of myself, I feel so happy for my family. This is for my dad too! I’m a big boy, I’m strong, and that’s what gave me the confidence. He told me he would break me mentally and physically and I knew that he couldn’t.”
Goulamirian, 36, who was born in Armenia, holds French citizenship and resides in the USA, was defeated but not disgraced. He landed some eye-catching shots throughout the fight but not enough of them and when he did connect, he failed to do any significant damage.
It was Goulamirian’s first fight in over a year, dating back to his unanimous decision victory over Aleksei Egorov in France in November 2022.
“His punches didn’t really hurt me,” Goulamirian said. “I give him his props, he is the new champion now. He was slick in there with the movement and that’s what helped him win.
“It was a longtime since I had been in the ring, and I definitely had to shake off some rust, but I want to come back very soon.”
Before the fight Ramirez praised Goulamirian, but said he was confident of victory.
“He is the champ for a reason,” Ramirez said. “Arsen is the warrior with Thor-like strength who can also box. He’s going to be a huge challenge, which is why I wanted this fight. I’ve been working on my skills and my strength to overcome Arsen.
“It’s going to be a war. I know he likes to fight on the inside and that’s my specialty as well. I believe the combination of my strength and power will allow me to be victorious.”
He added that the move up in weight came at the right time.
“I feel comfortable at this weight,” ‘Ramirez said. “Naturally, as I got older, it was tougher to make weight and now everything seems to be easier. Like I always say, there’s no better teacher than experience in this life. I’m not training differently as a cruiserweight.
“I’m always working on the basics of boxing. Going into a higher division, one of the main things is that I’m able to lift heavy and not worry about gaining muscle mass.”
