Zurdo Ramirez Wins Cruiserweight Title

Zurdo First Mexican to Win Cruiserweight Title

By Lauren Rodriguez

INGLEWOOD, Ca.-Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez became fhe first Mexican in history to win a cruiserweight world title as he defeated WBA champion Arsen Goulamirian by unanimous decision on Saturday.

Ramirez was also the first Mexican to win a super middleweight world title too.

Ramirez (46-1, 30 KO”s) went 12- rounds against six-defense WBA champion Goulamirian (27-1, 18 KO’s) and showed the YouTube Theater crowd he was quite comfortable fighting two divisions higher

The two took the first round to get to know each other, neither committing to a full attack.

Zurdo could be seen moving his opponent into position, pushing him to the perfect distance before throwing a punch. In the fourth round Zurdo began throwing heavier punches, throwing uppercuts from a muffed position followed by right hooks.

Zurdo continued to stay busy, moving his mitts around before throwing his jab, following it with an uppercut combo.  The two kept their heads together and their arms tight up in front. Goulamarian landed heavy hitting left hooks but Zurdo remained in motion from every direction. 

In the 11th round a heavy hitting shot to the body by Goulamarian seemed to put Zurdo in momentary pain before he fired back with a left- right, followed by an uppercut. In the 12th round the two went blow-for-blow, Zurdo working his opponent's body while the Armenian-French worked on top.

The bout was scored a unanimous decision of 118-110, in favor of Ramirez.

It is the first world championship title for Ramirez’s trainer, Julian Chua. 

“After the global fight, everyone was talking and running their mouths and it’s just nice to prove the doubters wrong and prove the people who supported us right,” said Chua.

Despite being familiar to the feeling of winning a title, it is the first cruiserweight title for the Sinaloan fighter Ramirez.

“Sometimes I didn't believe in myself. Even for my last one I want to be a champion now. I want to be a legend champion or a legend.I wanna, i wanna see who wins undisputed world champion and i will prove myself that I can,” said Ramirez about fighting for all the cruiserweight world titles. 

Arsen Goulamarian’s debut in the United States has broken his undefeated streak. The fighter isn’t letting this derail him from fighting.

“It's not maybe you know, he's good. Maybe I'm not good because one year of no fighting. Last Friday he told me what to do November 19. You know and and stay all the time waiting, waiting problem in head you know, promoter changes, or  No, problem is not fighting problem is what happening before coming to fight but I'm comeback brothers will not…I waiting so much you know. He was getting to work a lot. I maybe, I wait. Really good punch. No but strategy's not this because my coach told me you know, work work work just fine. But is it what is it you know? He's champ now. WBA congratulations,” said Goulamirian.

Co-main event

A welterweight fight between Alexis “Lex” Rocha (24-2, 15 Ko’s) and Fredrick Lawson (30-4, 22 KO’s) ended early. After a recent loss to Giovani Santillan (31-0), Rocha was hungry for a win. Despite his height advantage, Lawson was slow to react, taking a lot of punishment from a busy Rocha. Lawson's height advantage made him slow to respond to Rocha who threw overhand blows that had Lawson fighting from the ropes. 

By the 4th round Rocha became busier, letting his hands fly. Rocha continued throwing combinations while Lawson kept his mitts guarding his face. 

In the 7th round, Rocha initiated a brawl with Lawson responding slowly, throwing one glove for every combination Rocha threw.

It was at the bottom of the 7th round that Lawson's corner stopped the bout, Rocha winning a TKO victory.

“It was definitely hard to come back, it took about a couple weeks a month,” said Rocha.

Other Bouts

In the super flyweight division, a 10-round bout between Ricaardo Sandoval (24-2, 17 KO’s) and Carlos Buitrago (38-13-1, 22 KO’s) had the crowd cheering. 

Buitrago threw heavy hitters around the ring, slugging Sandoval. Sandoval began working Buitrago around the ropes. It was in the 3rd round that Sandoval began digging with uppercuts to the body Sandoval remained busier, making contact. Buitrago started throwing straight jabs before throwing left right hooks.

Sandoval threw left hand uppercuts and right overhand combinations. Buitrago seemed hesitant, waiting for Sandoval to strike so he could quickly counter.

The two went blow-for-blow in the 8th round, throwing combinations back and forth hoping for the other to get tired. Sandoval kept throwing his left hand but Buitrago was on the ropes fighting him before the bell rang.

The end of 8th, while in the corner, the referee called the fight to a halt due to the swelling in Buitrago’s eyes. Sandoval’s victory was deemed a total knockout.

In the welterweight division Santiago Dominguez (27-0, 20 KO’s) went 10-rounds against Jose Sanchez (14-4-1, 4 KO’s).  Dominguez was quick to slam his mitt into Sanchez’s jaw before working him around the ring with body shots. Sanchez attempted an overhead shot and stumbled, leaving room for Dominguez to throw a straight jab that threw Sanchez’s head back before throwing uppercuts. 

 After ten rounds, the judges went to their scoreboards. 97-93, Sanchez 96-94, 97-93 Dominguez, a split decision in favor of Dominguez. Dominguez remains undefeated with 20 knockouts. 

In the welterweight division Joel Iriarte (2-0, 2 KO’s) and  Kevin Aguirre (5-3, 2 KO’s) Opened the DAZN broadcast. The scheduled 4-round bout came to a halt at 2:09 of the 1st round, a KO victory for Iriarte.

Fighting for the  WBA Intercontinental  light heavy title, Kareem Hackett (12-1, 6 KO’s) faced off for 10-rounds against  Rowdy Montgomery (11-5-1, 8 KO:S). At 2:36 of the 3rd round, Hackett was down. Montgomery, a 37-year-old Victorville native wins his first title.

Ronaldo Mancilla (1-0,1 KO) made his professional debut against  Rueben Johnson (0-6). Johnson was down at 2:09 of the 1st of four rounds.