Arsen Goulamirian misses the feeling of a knockout.

The unbeaten WBA cruiserweight titlist has ended eight of his past ten fights in that fashion. However, his last bout—a November 2022 win over Alexsei Egorov—went the distance and snapped a six-fight stoppage streak.

Inactivity has left the 36-year-old Armenia-born, France-based bruiser without a win inside the distance since the pandemic. He would love to take it out of the judges’ hands in his U.S. debut versus Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez.

“I want this fight to end in knockout,” Goulamirian told DAZN/Golden Boy’s Beto Duran after he made weight on Friday. “Points I think is no good for the fans. He’s Mexican and I have a Mexican style. I think it’s better when you have a hard fight. Why not (end in knockout)?”

Goulamirian-Ramirez headlines a DAZN show this Saturday from YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California.

Mexico’s Ramirez (45-1, 30 knockouts), No. 10 at 200, enters as both the crowd and betting favorite. Additionally, his title bid at cruiserweight is presented by Golden Boy Promotions, with whom the now-32-year-old Ramirez signed three years ago.

None of that may particularly matter to Goulamirian (27-0, 18 KOs), No. 6 at 200.

In particular, he wants to give the fans over here a reason to have him regularly come back stateside. Goulamirian—who trains out of Abel Sanchez’s camp in Big Bear, California—has fought predominantly in France. Saturday marks just his second career fight in North America.

“I wanted to do this for a long time,” note Goulamirian. “But there was never a big name cruiserweight to bring that kind of fight over here.

“With Ramirez now at cruiserweight, Golden Boy reached out and gave me the chance to fight in the U.S.”

The hope is to fight more often, in general.

Goulamirian won a secondary WBA title in March 2018, when he stopped unbeaten Ryan Merhy in the eleventh round. One year later, Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) vacated his Ring and undisputed cruiserweight reign to fight at heavyweight. The move saw Goulamirian elevated to full WBA titlist, though only three title defenses in those four years.

The path was created for his long-awaited U.S. arrival when the WBA ordered a mandatory title defense versus Ramirez. The order came out of the blue, and nullified prior instructions to face former two-time titlist Yuniel Dorticos.

It worked out to the benefit of Ramirez and Golden Boy Promotions.

Ramirez previously held the WBO super middleweight title before he moved up in 2019. He fell miserably short in a November 2022 challenge of  WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol.

Just one fight has followed—a ten-round win over Joe Smith last October 7 in Las Vegas. The bout came at a contracted catchweight of 193 pounds, seven below the cruiserweight limit. Somehow, it was good enough for Ramirez to elevate to the mandatory position.

However we got here, the defending titlist is equally grateful for the opportunity. However, it’s not to where he plans to hand over his title or leave this fight in the judges’ hands.

“I’m very excited,” stated Goulamirian. “The fight starts now for me. This was my dream to fight in the United States.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Follow @JakeNDaBox

READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE RING FOR FREE VIA THE NEW APP NOW. SUBSCRIBE NOW TO ACCESS MORE THAN 10 YEARS OF BACK ISSUES.