Star Boxing Promoter Joe DeGuardia talks Gilberto Ramirez vs. Joe Smith Jr. & more
On Saturday night, Golden Boy Promotions & DAZN present an interesting cruiserweight main event. Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (44-1, 30 KOs) will face Joe Smith Jr. (28-4, 22 KOs) at a catchweight of 193 pounds. Both men will be competing at that weight class for the first time in their careers, moving up from the light heavyweight division for this one, and both are coming off a loss.
Smith Jr.’s promoter, Joe DeGuardia, the founder and CEO of Star Boxing, has been right there with him throughout it all and now has gotten his fighter this big opportunity on DAZN.
Things were tough for Smith Jr. after losing to unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs) in June 2022 inside the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. In front of family and friends, Smith Jr. was stopped in the second round, costing him the WBO title he had proudly held since 2021.
Smith Jr. was supposed to return in January, but reinjured his ankle, forcing the fight to be canceled. His promoter, DeGuardia, was tasked with finding another date. In May, Smith Jr.’s brother was fatally shot outside of a bar in Mastic Beach, leaving him mentally distraught.
Once some time passed, Smith Jr. reached out to his promoter and asked for a big fight to get his mind focused. DeGuardia told FanSidedMMA, “This is not the first fight that came up. We certainly had several different plans for him over the course of 16 months between the last one and this one. That was a disappointing night at the Madison Square Garden. Sometimes, the night doesn’t go for you, and that one didn’t.”
DeGuardia continued, “Ultimately, he was asking me when he was going to get back to the ring and that he wanted the biggest fight out there, which could be what can get him motivated again. That’s what I did. I got him the biggest fight I could get him.”
Although Smith Jr. doesn’t normally fight outside the light heavyweight limit of 175 pounds, the Ramirez matchup wasn’t available at anything less than cruiserweight, so DeGuardia had some work to do. “We negotiated and ultimately agreed on that weight (193 lbs.). From Joe’s perspective, he didn’t care; he just wanted the fight. I think Joe would’ve been okay with 200 lbs.,” chuckled DeGuardia.
Gilberto 'Zurdo' Ramirez vs. Joe Smith Jr. will stream live on DAZN
The 60-year-old promoter from the Bronx, NY, mentioned that Smith Jr. loves the idea of showing the world that the Beterbiev fight was just one night and that against Ramirez we will all see the real Smith Jr. His fighter certainly has his hands full on Saturday night as Ramirez has been rumored to be as heavy as 220 pounds on fight night in the past. Smith Jr. will truly be fighting a heavyweight.
While DeGuardia has Saturday night to worry about with Smith Jr. fighting Ramirez, he also has plans to finish the year strong with local shows in the Tri-State area and New England. “We have a show on October 28 at The Paramount in Huntington, NY. We love that place. It’ll be our 45th show there, and they have been practically sold out.”
DeGuardia continued, “I think we have 33 tickets left for this upcoming one. The main event will feature Alex Vargas (13-0, 5 KOs), who has an interesting story. He’s now a Suffolk County Police Officer and is in a tough fight. Wendy Toussaint (14-2, 6 KOs) is on the card, so it will be an interesting night. Then, we are finalizing a November date and hopefully finalizing a December 15th date in the New England area at one of the casinos. It’s a crazy business and crazy times, but fortunately, we are staying active.”
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