Today’s Live Results: Ramirez vs Billiam-Smith

WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto 'Zurdo' Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs) defeated WBO champion Chris Billiam-Smith (20-2, 13 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision in a war on Saturday night at The Venue in Riyadh , Saudi Arabia.

(Credit: Golden Boy/Chris Esqueda)

The scores were 116-112, 116-112 and 116-113.

“I feel great. I am a unified champion. I'm prepared for those guys. He was a strong man,” Ramirez said after the fight. “For me it was great footwork. I used my defense as much as possible. I want to unite against all champions. That's a great goal for me,” Ramirez said of wanting to fight IBF champion Jai Opetaia next.

Billiam-Smith suffered a cut on his left eye from a clash of heads in the fourth round. The cut was a problem for the rest of the fight, but he was still able to fight hard. What really hurt Billiam-Smith's chances of winning was his fatigue. He got tired early and couldn't fight as hard as he needed to. Ramirez's footwork caused problems for the leading Billiam-Smith.

The undercard results are below.

– Light welterweight Arnold Barboza Jr. (31-0, 11 KOs) defeated former unified 140-pound champion Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision in a WBO title eliminator. The scores were 97-93, 96-94 and 96-94.

“This is my championship fight. All the time we spent together, it never happened,” Barboza Jr. said. “This is a fight we wanted. I'd like a title shot. I'm the only fighter at the top and I haven't been given a single chance yet.”

– Undefeated lightweight prospect William Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) outpointed former IBF super featherweight champion Tevin Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs) to win a 10-round split decision. Farmer, 34, had his moments in the fight, dropping Zepeda with a left hand in round four, but was outgunned by the Mexican fighter for the rest of the fight.

Farmer held on a lot during the fight and looked exhausted from round eight. The scores were 95-94, 95-94 for Zepeda and 95-94 for Farmer. Boxing News 24 scored it for Zepeda 9-1. Farmer only fought well enough to win the fourth round.

“We always knew it would be a tough fight. Farmer has a lot of experience and there are things I need to improve. I am happy with my performance tonight,” said Zepeda. “He tried to suffocate me and shut me down so I couldn't feel comfortable there. I was able to do the body work to wear it down.

'That shot [from Farmer in round four] surprised me a bit and affected my confidence a bit. But I could draw on my experience. We've been waiting for that opportunity to get that [title shot]. Yes, we are just waiting in faith for that firm offer, and we will seize that opportunity,” Zepeda said about the fight against Shakur Stevenson.

“I thought the knockdown took it out,” Farmer said. “It was something I had seen before,” Farmer said of Zepeda's results. “This man has stopped the last 11 opponents, and you saw what I did. The goal was to put pressure on him. We let him go back, and they can't fight very well for guys like that.”

– WBO minimumweight champion Oscar Collazo (11-0, 8 KOs) stopped previously undefeated WBA champion Thammanoon “Knockout CP Freshmart” Niyomtrong (25-1, 9 KOs) by knockout in the seventh round.

Collazo dropped the 34-year-old Niyomtrong three times in the fight, once in round six and twice more in the seventh to earn the knockout. The time of the stoppage was 1:29 of round seven. The knockout came with a left uppercut followed by a right to the body of 27-year-old Puerto Rican Collazo.

– Lightweight contender Oscar Duarte (28-2-1, 22 KOs) started slow but came on strong in the sixth round to win a 10-round unanimous decision over Bortizhon Akhmedov (10-4, 9 KOs). Duarte, 27, hurt Akhmedov with big shots in rounds six, seven and nine. In the tenth, Duarte suffered a cut on his forehead from a clash of heads. The scores were 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94.

“I know my opponent is Akhmedov, a great fighter. We have trained in the past, but I listened to my corner. I felt like I did enough to win the fight,” Duarte said after the fight. We knew he was a real fighter. He is a warrior who always comes forward. We knew we had to take the initiative. I'm ready for anyone, and I want to fight Devin Haney. The reason I want to fight him is because he's one of the best. I feel like I'm on my way back. I'm ready for the next opportunity.”

– In an exciting bout, welterweight Ziyad Almaayouf (6-0-1, 1 KO) and Juan Garcia (5-6-1) fought to a six-round majority match. Alaamayouf, 24, landed the harder shots, but Garcia's combination punch tied it. The scores were 58-56 for Almaayouf, 57-57 and 57-57. This is a fight that had to last at least ten rounds to determine a winner, as they both threw punches, but neither man could land a big enough shot in six rounds to come out on top.

In the co-main, light welterweight contenders Jose Ramirez and Arnold Barboza Jr. will fight. to position himself to fight for the WBO title. It's hard to say how much former unified 140-lb champion Ramirez (29-1, 18 KOs) has left in the tank at this point, as he hasn't had a serious fight since his 2021 loss to Josh Taylor three years ago .

He faced less opposition during a wasteful three-year rebuild, which in retrospect was unnecessary. Full card for DAZN

Gilberto Ramirez vs. Chris Billam-SmithJose Ramirez vs. Arnold Barboza JrWilliam Zepeda vs. Tevin FarmerOscar Collazo vs. Thammanoon NiyomtrongOscar Duarte vs. Batyr AkhmedovZiyad Almaayouf vs. Juan Garcia

The fight that many fans seem to be more interested in on the card is the lightweight battle between William Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) and Tevin Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs), who will compete in a 10 – rounder to put the winner in a title fight against WBC champion Shakur Stevenson in February.

Farmer wants to take action to ruin Zepeda's plans, but that doesn't seem realistic. He's too old at 34 and doesn't fit into the 135-pound landscape he had at 130.