Albert Ramirez will keep the line moving in hopes of punching his way to a title upgrade.
The unbeaten Venezuelan light heavyweight is set to face England’s Lerrone “Spider” Richards on February 5 at Montreal Casino in Montreal, Canada. Eye of the Tiger Management confirmed the matchup between 33-year-old southpaws, atop its first offering of 2026.
Ramirez, 22-0 (19 KOs), will risk his WBA interim title for the first time.
It also marks a return to his home away from home as he fights at the venue for the fourth time in his last six starts. Ramirez hit the road in an August 8 knockout victory over Jerome Pampellone as part of a “KO to Drugs” sponsored event in Benghazi, Libya.
With the win, Ramirez picked up a secondary version of the WBA light heavyweight title. The full version is held by Dmitry Bivol, 24-1 (12 KOs), who also holds the IBF and WBO titles and is due to return to the ring sometime in the first quarter of the new year.
The victory was part of a three-fight campaign for Ramirez, whose latest offering will mark his fourth fight in exactly 52 weeks.
Richards, 19-1 (4 KOs), hasn’t been nearly as active nor properly moved, though the hope is for his first career road trip to change his luck.
The London-based 12-year pro has fought just once since an upset knockout defeat to Steed Woodall in June 2024. It came in a September 26 tune-up against sub-.500 boxer Dylan Courtney, whom Richards outpointed over six rounds at the famed York Hall in Bethnal Green.
Richards previously boasted wins over then-unbeaten rising contenders Carlos Gongora and Lennox Clarke, and also turned away former secondary 168lbs titlist Giovanni De Carolis.
The win over Gongora was considered a big deal at the time, though Richards was unable to capitalize on the momentum. He was inactive for all of 2022, in part due to his split from Matchroom Boxing. He had a fight scheduled with Zak Chelli for November of that year, but passed out during the morning of the fight and was medically disqualified from the event.
Ramirez represents one of seven Eye of the Tiger-promoted boxers set to appear on the February 5 show. Among them are a quartet of Olympians, including Nova Scotia’s Wyatt Sanford, 5-0 (2 KOs), who became Canada’s first male boxer in 28 years to medal when he took home the bronze from the 2024 Olympics.
Arthur Biyarslanov, 20-0 (16 KOs), and Mehmet Unal, 14-0 (12 KOs), represented Russia and Turkey, respectively, in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Dzmitry Asanau, 11-0 (5 KOs), advanced to the round of 16 for Belarus during the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Opponents for Sanford, Asanau, Biyarslanov and Unal were not yet revealed as this goes to publication.
The only other confirmed matchup on the card pits a once-beaten prospect, Thomas Chabot, 11-1 (8 KOs), in a scheduled 10-round junior lightweight contest with Dominic Babineau, 13-2-1 (11 KOs).
