Fast-rising, unbeaten NABA Super Flyweight Champion John "Scrappy" Ramirez (10-0, 8 KOs) and seasoned Thai boxer Sirichai Thaiyen (64-4, 42 KOs) have agreed to face off in a 2023 WBA Title Eliminator to decide who will be Joshua "El Profesor" Franco's mandatory challenger for the WBA Super Flyweight World Championship (18-1, 8 KOs).
After learning about the championship eliminator at the last WBA Convention, Ramirez's manager David Suh revealed that the title eliminator's date, location, and other specifics are still to be finalized. The WBA has Ramirez ranked No. 2, Thaiyen No. 3, and the No. 1 position is unrated, with the Ramirez-Thaiyen victor moving up to that spot.
Ramirez, 26, is an intriguing fighter who comes from the rough South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles. He made his professional boxing debut in December 2020 in Galveston, Texas, he knocked out Jose Otero Solis in the first round to do so. Ramirez fought twice last year and seven times in 2021 despite the COVID-19 pandemic's limited opportunities for all boxers to compete.
In addition to holding the WBA Interim Flyweight World and WBC Youth World Light Flyweight titles, the 32-year-old Thaiyen, nicknamed Yodmongkol CP Freshmart, is the current Asian Boxing Federation Super Flyweight Champion.
Sirichai has a 14-fight winning run dating back to 2018. He lost his only world title fights to Dalakian in 2018 for the WBA Flyweight World Championship via a seventh-round technical knockout and Juan Carlos Reveco in 2014 for the same title with a fifth-round TKO. His only professional fights outside of Thailand were in Ukraine and Venezuela.
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