Arsen Goulamirian is finally set for his U.S. debut—and just to fight in general.
A date and general location are now attached to Goulamirian’s WBA cruiserweight title defense versus Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez. BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the fight will headline a March 30 DAZN show from a venue to be determined in the greater Los Angeles area.
Goulamirian recently met with Golden Boy to finalize the terms of the fight, confirming a prior Boxing Scene report that the two were due to meet in March.
The fight comes in lieu of a previously ordered mandatory title defense versus former IBF cruiserweight titlist Yuniel Dorticos. The matchup was parked for several months along with several other ordered fights that were not advanced prior to the end of 2023. The WBA since ruled that Goulamirian could next defend versus Mexico’s Ramirez, with the winner likely to have to defend versus Dorticos.
Two cruiserweights previously ordered to enter separate title fights will instead face each other.
Goulamirian (27-0, 18KOs) has held the full WBA cruiserweight title since 2019, upon the divisional departure of former undisputed champ Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14KOs) who has since claimed the unified WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles.
However, the Armenia-born boxer—who now lives in France and trains in Big Bear, California—has only fought once in the past four years. That came in a twelve-round, unanimous decision over Aleksei Egorov last November 19 in Le Cannet, France.
An unhealthy mixture of injuries and legal issues beyond his control has slowed his reign to a crawl. Goulamirian was due to face Tommy McCarthy on September 10 in Marseille but the event was canceled due to a bizarre scenario where Canal+—the network who agreed to air the event—abruptly bowed out of the sport altogether.
Goulamirian was also rumored to be in talks with England’s Richard Riakporhe last year, though the fight never materialized.
Ramirez (45-1, 30KOs) entered the cruiserweight conversation after a ten-round points win over former WBO light heavyweight titlist Joe Smith Jr. Their October 7 bout saw Ramirez—a former WBO super middleweight titleholder—make his cruiserweight debut, though contested a contracted 193-pound weight limit for their DAZN headliner from Chelsea Ballroom at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
It marked the first ring appearance for the 32-year-old southpaw from Mazatlan, Mexico since a November 2022 lopsided defeat to WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol in Abu Dhabi. Ramirez was due to face Gabriel Rosado last March but was pulled from the DAZN event when he entered fight week well over the light heavyweight limit.
The win over Smith put Ramirez in title contention at his new weight. However, he was previously ordered to next face former three-time champ Mairis Briedis (28-2, 20KOs) for the vacant IBF cruiserweight title. The matter was scheduled for a January 16 purse bid hearing before it was canceled outright.
Both wound up heading in separate directions. Latvia’s Briedis will next face Sydney’s Jai Opetaia in a rematch to their July 2022 thriller. Opetaia dethroned Briedis to win the IBF title, which he defended once before he vacated last December.
Ramirez previously held the WBO super middleweight title from April 2016 through his April 2019 light heavyweight debut. He made five successful defenses of the belt but has only fought one title fight since then—his aforementioned defeat to Bivol.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox