Chris Billam-Smith weighs in with ‘surprise factor’ threat for Gilberto Ramirez unification clash | Boxing news

Chris Billam-Smith and Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez both made weight for Saturday’s World Cruiserweight Championship.

Billam-Smith weighed 199.4 lbs and Ramirez weighed 199.6 lbs.

They fight for the former’s WBO title and the latter’s WBA belt on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.

Britain’s Billam-Smith stepped onto the scale on stage looking cheerful. But turned a wide-eyed look on Ramirez for their final face-off. Ramirez smiled weakly and turned away first.

“Nobody in this division can match my intensity,” declared Billam-Smith.

He promised that all he had to do was “be me” and “tomorrow night we’re going to unify the cruiserweight division”.

Ramirez spoke calmly afterwards. “I feel good, I feel ready,” he said. “It’s time to enjoy Saturday night.

“Confidence, preparation and that’s it.”

Billam-Smith has warned his rival champion that he will push for a knockout victory.

“I believe I can take him out in the second half of the game, I really do,” said Billam-Smith Sky Sports.

“But we’ll see. Things can happen on fight night. A lot can happen in a boxing ring and in the moment. He might be more durable than we think. He’s super durable, but I believe in my intensity.

“It will take a lot to get rid of him, but I believe I can do it.”

Ramirez was slightly heavier than Billam-Smith at the weigh-in, but over the course of his career, the Mexican star has risen through several weight classes to become a two-division champion.

“He looked in good shape,” Shane McGuigan, Billam-Smith’s trainer, said of Ramirez.

But McGuigan added: “(Billam-Smith) will be rehydrating and a big guy in there. I think he’s the bigger guy of the two. Obviously, Zurdo started at super-middleweight in his career. But I don’t know how he ever set that limit. So he’s let his body swell over the years.

“We’re not looking at small gains at this point, we’re looking at the bigger picture and we’ve completed everything in training camp and we’re ready to go. I think he’s in the shape of his life.

“Chris is the slightly older guy, but out of the two of them he’s the fresher guy, he’s had less fights, he’s got his natural weight.”

He shares Billam-Smith’s confidence that the Briton can win by stoppage.

“I think it will be a difficult fight early on, but once Chris starts to get his momentum and starts to pick up the pace – Zurdo’s last fight against (Arsen) Goulamirian, it was very one-pace.

“Goulamirian hurt him a few times but never changed the pace and those gears. Whereas Chris is one of the strongest guys at 200 lbs and he can really pick up the pace and he can really change that speed on people,” shared McGuigan Sky Sports news.

“I think it can be a surprise factor for Zurdo.”

Billam-Smith and Ramirez are boxing in Riyadh, on what could be considered neutral territory. But McGuigan doesn’t see it that way. The event is billed as ‘Latino Night’ and is being staged by Golden Boy, Ramirez’s promoter.

“We’re very confident,” McGuigan said. “This is different, it’s away from home. We’re in a different environment with a different promotion. But they’ve treated us very, very well since we’ve been out here and we’ve got all the facilities we need to getting to Next in line is just going out there and putting on a good show.

But he added: “But we also know we’re away and even though there are two champions if it gets close you never know how the referees are going to see it so we have to do the little bit extra and I think Chris will go out there to stop.

“We’re going to go out there and have to make a statement. We can’t let this game get close.”

Watch Chris Billam-Smith’s World Championship unification with Gilberto Ramirez on Saturday live on Sky Sports Mix from