AFTER winning the World Boxing Super Series in sensational style against George Groves last September, Callum Smith needs to defend his WBA super-middleweight title and plot a course towards another meaningful fight.
The WBO super-middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez is in Smith’s sights. Callum will travel to Los Angeles to see the Mexican in a non title fight on the undercard of Vasyl Lomachenko vs Anthony Crolla, Smith’s gym mate, on April 12.
“Gilberto Ramirez, that’s the fight we want, a big unification fight that’s the one that we want,” Joe Gallagher, Smith’s trainer, told Boxing News. “We’ll look at the Ramirez fight for September, October [this year].”
Firstly, Gallagher wants Smith to have a defence on the June 1 Anthony Joshua undercard at Madison Square Garden in New York. “It looks like Callum Smith is heading towards being chief support on Anthony Joshua’s undercard in America,” Joe said. “I think it’s the right thing.”
“If you’re going to have Britain versus the rest of the world you can’t have the number one in the world sat at home can you? I think profile-wise, everything else for Callum Smith is ideal,” he continued. “That’s what we want and I think for any other show for Callum to be on wouldn’t do him any justice.”
He believes it will help build Smith’s profile with the UK television audience and American viewers as they look for a significant unification later in the year. “It’s time to get Callum Smith out there,” Gallagher said. “Everyone will be watching that fight and being on before AJ, with the crowd watching and an American audience.”
“We couldn’t get a better launchpad than being on AJ’s undercard,” he added. “We need to get everyone knowing who he is, with AJ as chief support is a logical and sensible business move for Callum Smith.”
