History was made in front of a sold out crowd as Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (46-1, 30 KOs) of Mazatlán, Mexico became the new WBA Cruiserweight Super World Champion in a clash that went the distance against former long-time champion Arsen “Feroz” Goulamirian (27-1, 19 KOs) of Yerevan, Armenia.
Ramirez earned his name among the Mexican pugilist elite, being the first Mexican to become a cruiserweight world titlist and the first of his countrymen to hold both the super middleweight and cruiserweight titles.
The back-and-forth action was entertaining from start to finish, Feroz living up to his nickname of ferocious; Zurdo impressing with his bobbing and weaving and slick moves. All three judges scored the momentous 12-rounds 110-118 to name Zurdo Ramirez the new champion and handed Goulamirian his first-ever career defeat.
“Dreams come true. Los sueños se hacen realidad,” said Gilberto “Zurdo” 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.”
“His punches didn’t really hurt me,” said Arsen Goulamirian. “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.”
Special VIP guests of the night included Chairman and CEO Oscar De La Hoya, Golden Boy Partner Bernard Hopkins, Comedian Cedric the Entertainer, Actor Anthony Anderson, and British Broadcaster Kate Abdo. The action took place live from YouTube Theater at Hollywood Park in Inglewood and was broadcast live on DAZN.
In the co-main event, Santa Ana’s Alexis “Lex” Rocha (24-2, 16 KOs) made a valiant return with a TKO defeat of Fredrick “General Okunka” Lawson (30-5, 22 KOs). Scheduled as a 10-round welterweight bout, Rocha showed off his ring prowess and power in a fight that made it the conclusion of the seventh round where the referee waved the fight off.
“I want to thank my team, I am just very grateful for everyone,” said Alexis Rocha. Yeah it’s my first fight after my loss and not that many people hold their head up like I did after my loss, but I just kept moving forward. I know what type of person and type of fighter I am. You just gotta keep moving forward, and I have great people behind me. I was hitting him with pretty much everything in the kitchen sink but like my coach always says you just have to be patient change combinations, change the speeds, and the knockout will come, don’t go looking for it and I feel like I was doing that a little bit too much today.”
Also on the DAZN broadcast, Rialto’s Ricardo Sandoval (24-2, 17 KOs) added another knockout to his record with a solid TKO defeat of Managua, Nicaragua’s Carlos Buitrago (38-13-1, 22 KOs). The super flyweight fight was scheduled for 10-rounds, and the action-packed fight featured a dominant Sandoval who took control of the fight and displayed great ring generalship, slowly breaking down Buitrago who could not keep up. Upon the advice of the physician, the referee stopped the fight at the end of the eighth round.
In a bout that went the distance, Fort Worth, Texas’ Santiago “Somer” Dominguez (27-0, 20 KOs) secured a split decision victory against Jose Sanchez (14-3-1, 4 KOs) of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The 10-round welterweight fight featured a number of back-and-forth exchanges, the judges ultimately scoring the fight 97-93, 93-97 and 96-94 for Dominguez.
Opening the broadcast, in a scheduled four-round welterweight bout, Joel Iriarte (2-0, 2 KO) of Bakersfield set the crowd ablaze with a highlight-reel stoppage of Kevin Aguirre (5-3, 2 KOs) of Guerrero, Mexico. Iriarte went to work early, landing a flurry of punches that ultimately Aguirre couldn’t handle, causing him to go down at 2:09 in the first round.
On the preliminary card Victorville’s Rowdy Montgomery (11-5-1, 8 KOs) pulled off an upset knockout victory upset against Kareem Hackett (12-1, 6 KOs) of Toronto, Canada and stole Hackett’s WBA Intercontinental Title. Scheduled as a 10-round light heavyweight fight, Montgomery landed a massive blow to the head that Hackett was unable to recover from, the referee stopping the fight at 2:36 in round three when Hackett was unable to respond to the barrage of punches.
Making his professional debut, Ronaldo Mancilla (1-0, 1 KO) of Big Bear dazzled the crowd with a first-round knockout against Rueben Johnson (0-6) of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Scheduled for four-rounds of light heavyweight action, the bout only made it to 2:09.
