Latino Night: 10 Things You Should Know About The Boxing Card
by Brian Mazique · ForbesAre you ready for one of the year's most fantastic combat sports weekends? We know about Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson on November 15 and UFC 309 on November 16, but there is also a major show for boxing purists in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh Season is presenting Latino Night with a heavy focus on fighters promoted by Golden Boy and BOXXER. I've spoken with the head of Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya, and Vergil Ortiz Jr. ahead of the event.
Here are the ten things you should know about Latino Night.
Event Date and Location
Latino Night is scheduled for November 16, 2024, at The Venue. It's a new zone introduced during Riyadh Season in the Saudi capital.
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Latino Night Main Event
The headliner is a cruiserweight unification bout between WBA champion Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez and WBO champ, Chris Billiam-Smith.
Zurdo is probably one of the most underrated fighters in the sport over the past seven years.
He won his first world title in 2016 when he took the WBO super middleweight title away from Arthur Abraham. Zurdo defended the title six times before moving up to light heavyweight, where he had a successful run but suffered the only loss of his career, a unanimous decision defeat to Dmitry Bivol.
Zurdo moved up to cruiserweight, becoming the WBA champion when he defeated Arsen Goulamirian in March.
CBS is a champion who seems more disrespected than respected, seemingly intent on proving the doubters wrong.
The 34-year-old is 20-1 with 13 KOs and owns impressive wins over top contenders like Lawrence Okolie and Richard Riakporhe.
Latino Night Co-Main Event
The co-main event in Riyadh could be the best fight of the night. Former U.S. Olympian and unified champion Jose Ramirez takes on the undefeated Arnold Barboza Jr. in a WBO super lightweight world title eliminator.
The fight could also determine which fighter represents Golden Boy in the potential five-v-five against Matchroom. The winner could theoretically be matched up against Jack Catterall.
Additional Fights
Speaking of the GBP vs. Matchroom card, other fighters on the Latino Night card could be involved in that show. De La Hoya says the target date would be Cinco de Mayo weekend in May.
William "El Camarón" Zepeda will face former IBF champion Tevin "2X" Farmer. Zepeda has agreed to WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson in 2025.
Also, a fight De La Hoya called out specifically in our interview, the "little giants" battle with WBO minimumweight champion Oscar "El Pupilo" Collazo defending his title against Thammanoon Niyomtrong.
The Full Card for Latino Night
Here is a look at the entire card.
- Gilberto Ramirez vs. Chris Billam-Smith
- Jose Ramirez vs. Arnold Barbosa Jr
- Oscar Collazo vs. Thammanoon Niyomtrong
- William Zepeda vs. Tevin Farmer
- Oscar Duarte vs. Botirzhon Akhmedov (replaced the injured Kenneth Sims Jr.)
- Ziyad Almaayouf vs. Juan Garcia
Latino Night Strengthens DAZN's Foothold in Boxing
Latino Night is powered by Riyadh Season, and Turki Alalshikh was a major driving force behind the event. It's also significant that the show is co-promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and BOXXER.
Having the latter onboard and on DAZN makes the streaming platform even more potent in boxing.
Latino Night is Free on DAZN
Thanks to Alalshikh's influence and push, the card is free to fans on DAZN. It is a solid way to usher more fans to the streaming platform.
Cultural Celebration
Along the lines of Noche UFC, Latino Night is designed to celebrate and showcase Latino fighters. There is a chance we'll see concepts that pay homage to various layers of Latino culture.
It may not rival what the UFC did in the Sphere in Las Vegas from an overall production standpoint–though Riyadh Season invested in that event, too. However, I'm excited to see the celebration.
Potential Ring Magazine Announcements
De La Hoya confirmed the sale of Ring Magazine to Turki Alalshikh in my exclusive interview with him. Alalshikh followed up with some preliminary plans for the publication.
There is a chance we could get more information about the Ring's next steps during Latino Night.
Huge Combat Sports Weekend
Combat sports fans can catch all three major events this weekend as Paul vs. Tyson happens on Friday night, Latino Night begins at Noon ET, and there could be some slight overlap with the main event and co-main event in Riyadh and the opening prelims of UFC 309, which begin at 6 pm ET.
Be on the lookout for post-event coverage of the results of Latino Night.