Gilberto Ramirez to face Gevorg Khatchikian, Nov. 20 on truTV

Oct

Photo credit: Chris Farina/Top Rank Promotions

Unbeaten super middleweight contender Gilberto Ramirez will fight Gevorg Khatchikian on Nov. 20, Zanfer Promotions representative Sean Gibbons recently told RingTV.

The 10-round bout will headline a Top Rank Promotions card that will take place at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Nev. The ‘MetroPCS Friday Night Knockout’ telecast will air live on truTV, beginning at 10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT.

Ramirez was originally scheduled to fight Juan Camilo Novoa but the fight fell through.

“Unfortunately the [Nevada State Athletic] Commission did not approve of Novoa,” Gibbons explained to RingTV. “We had to look for another opponent and settled with [Khatchikian].”

In his last bout on June 26, Ramirez (32-0, 24 knockouts) won a one-sided decision over Derek Edwards in Hidalgo, Texas.

Ramirez is currently ranked No. 2 by the WBC and WBA and No. 3 by the IBF.

Also ranked No. 1 by the WBO, he is the mandatory challenger to organization titlist Arthur Abraham. There were some preliminary discussions about when Ramirez would face Abraham but the Armenian-German is likely to face Bernard Hopkins in January.

Ramirez is ranked No. 4 by THE RING magazine at 168 pounds.

Khatchikian (23-1, 11 KOs) will be fighting for the first time in the United States. The fighter from Heerlen, Netherlands has won his last three fights in a row since suffering the only defeat of his career at the hands of James DeGale in March of last year.

In his last bout on Oct. 12, Khatchikian knocked out Varazdat Chernikov in the 10th round.

In the opening bout of the truTV telecast, lightweight Saul Rodriguez will face Ivan Najera in a 10-round bout. Najera lost to Felix Verdejo on June 13 and will likely provide a strong test for the undefeated Rodriguez, who is trained by Robert Garcia.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since Oct. of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.