By Elliot Foster
Callum Smith could be forced to look elsewhere if he plans to unify the division.
The 28-year-old was at ringside on Friday night as his gym-mate Anthony Crolla was knocked out by Vasyl Lomachenko in a challenge for the WBA and WBO world lightweight titles.
Smith, the current WBA Super, WBC Diamond and Ring Magazine world champion at super-middleweight, also saw WBO world champion Gilberto Ramirez in action at the Staples Center, exclusively live on Sky Sports in the UK and ESPN Stateside.
Mexico’s ‘Zurdo’ forced Tommy Karpency to retire after four completed rounds of their 10-round non-title showdown up at light-heavyweight.
And after the victory, 27-year-old Ramirez highlighted that he felt more comfortable up at 175lbs and wanted to stay there in a bid to win global honours in two weight divisions.
But Smith, who is set to return on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s WBA Super, WBO, IBF and IBO world heavyweight title defence against Jarrell Miller at New York’s Madison Square Garden on June 1, is still keen on a fight with the undefeated 40-0 man.
"I would like the fight [with Ramirez]," said Smith. "I've become a world champion and now the plan is to become a unified world champion.
"I will fight with any of the other world champions and I think the fight with Gilberto should be pretty simple to make."
Details regarding the next move of Ramirez – and the identity of Smith’s next opponent – will be revealed in due course.