Ramirez to defend WBO title vs. Shimizu in July

Robeisy Ramirez will make the first defense of his WBO featherweight title vs. Satoshi Shimizu on July 25 in Tokyo, promoter Top Rank announced on Thursday.

The 126-pound title bout will serve as chief support on ESPN+ for the highly anticipated showdown between Stephen Fulton and Naoya Inoue for Fulton’s unified 122-pound championship.

Ramirez, a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Cuba, captured the vacant title this month with a unanimous-decision victory over Isaac Dogboe. Ramirez (12-1, 7 KOs) rose to No. 6 in ESPN’s featherweight rankings and is poised for some big matchups in the action-packed division going forward.

“Fighting is what I do best, titles are meant to be defended and there’s no stopping ‘El Tren!,'” said Ramirez, 29.

Shimizu (11-1, 10 KOs), an Olympic bronze medalist from Japan, will be fighting for a world title for the first time at age 37.