Chris Billam-Smith rates ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez vs Jai Opetaia as a 50-50 fight
Dec 26, 2024 • 5:00 AM ET
One of the finest fights that could be made in 2025 would be a cruiserweight unification contest between WBA and WBO titleholder Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez and IBF ruler Jai Opetaia.
Opetaia is back in action in Australia on January 8 against David Nyika, while Ramirez is coming off an impressive November win over Chris Billam-Smith, in which he added the WBO title to his WBA belt.
Billam-Smith, now hoping to take the WBC route in 2025, said he believes a Ramirez-Opetaia matchup would be competitive.
“I don’t know,” Billam-Smith said when asked about who might win. “I think it depends on the first few rounds. He’s a very clever fighter, Zurdo. I know he’s much more clever in there than you probably realize at times. But Opetaia is very good, very good technically. He’s got good feet. And I think you need good feet to beat Zurdo. I think fast feet and keeping your shape and stuff like that is important. It’s how he’d beat him – with his feet.”
Between the two titleholders, Ramirez has the only professional loss, and that is to the excellent light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol. Billam-Smith admires Bivol while at the same time believing Opeteia-Ramirez would strategically be a different fight.
“I don’t think Opetaia is the same in terms of the way he does it,” said Billam-Smith. “I think he does switch off sometimes after he punches, Opetaia, in terms of he looks for that big shot, that big back hand. But it’s a 50-50 fight, for sure, I think.
“I'd love to see it. Not often you say that about two southpaws, either. But I’d love to see it.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
