Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
This is gonna be a war, top matchup this one 👊🏻
Josh Taylor’s junior welterweight world title unification showdown against Jose Ramirez will take place on May 22 in Las Vegas, Mike Coppinger can reveal.
The highly-anticipated fight will see a unified champion crowned, with Scotland’s Taylor holding the WBA and IBF titles and America’s Ramirez holding the WBC and WBO straps.
The unification bout, which has been in the works since 2020, was made possible when WBO mandatory contender Jack Catterall stepped aside last year. It will be shown on ESPN in the United States.
How did we get here?
Ramirez, 28, won the WBC junior welterweight title by outpointing Amir Imam by unanimous decision back in March 2018.
He defended the belt twice with victories over Antonio Orozco and Jose Zepeda and then added the WBO title to his collection by stopping Maurice Hooker in a classic in July 2019.
Ramirez last fought in August 2020, edging out the dangerous Viktor Postol to defend his dual titles.
Taylor, 30, meanwhile claimed his first world title with a points victory against the Belarusian Ivan Baranchyk in a IBF super-lightweight title fight in Glasgow.
He followed that up by outpointing the American Regis Prograis in a Fight of the Year contender in October 2019, to win the World Boxing Super Series as well as the WBA title.
The Scot then defended both belts by knocking out Apinun Khongsong at York Hall last September.
Why is this fight so significant?
The clash will crown just the second undisputed champion at junior welterweight in the four-belt era, after Terence Crawford.
It is a worthy matchup to be sure. Taylor is The Athletic’s No.10 pound-for-pound fighter and proved he is one of the best boxers in the world with his victory over Prograis.
The Scottish fighter is a rising star in the UK, with his outsized personality and penchant for brawling on the inside at a high skill level.
Ramirez might be the underdog, but only a slight one.
Like Taylor, he’s undefeated and battle-tested. He’s coming off a razor-thin win over the crafty Postol and also owns a knockout victory over Hooker, both tough opponents.
May 22 promises to be a firefight between two dogged fighters with both entering the ring with two belts a piece.
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
Could be the fight of the year this and one of the biggest.
Might even be looking forward to this more than Canelo v Saunders
Just need Joshua v Fury (AJs claiming June) to be sealed and Davis v Garcia also.
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
Great great fight long time coming. Two top tier champs putting every trinket on the line to unify. Please boxing give us more.
Ramirez is one of the absolute top class acts in the sport today. Really got stuck a bit between styles with Postol who did a fine job boxing him and who lost by the slimmest of margins. Expecting a real tough scrap with Taylor over 12.
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
No offence to Ramirez(as if he would care) but he comes across as a bit of a dum dum caveman, I think Taylor will just be too much for him here and win pretty easy..... Wide UD for me in Taylor's favour.
And of course I will feel quite the fool if I'm wrong.
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
Quote:
Originally Posted by
palmerq
No offence to Ramirez(as if he would care) but he comes across as a bit of a dum dum caveman, I think Taylor will just be too much for him here and win pretty easy..... Wide UD for me in Taylor's favour.
And of course I will feel quite the fool if I'm wrong.
I agree with this guy again :cool:
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
Good fight indeed. I thought the Prograis fight was very very close. Do we think Ramirez is at that level or a step up moreso? I haven't see a whole lot of Ramirez that I can recall.
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
Taylor all the way he will outbox Ramirez and may even stop him.
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
chon already beat jose carlos. viktor should have a draw. josh ices jose carlos
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
Taylor is probably the UKs top fighter so I'm hoping BT might pick this up, Bob Arum is saying this could be moved back to suit the UK viewers.
So nobody is giving Ramirez a chance then?
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
Quote:
Originally Posted by
smashup
Taylor is probably the UKs top fighter so I'm hoping BT might pick this up, Bob Arum is saying this could be moved back to suit the UK viewers.
So nobody is giving Ramirez a chance then?
Taylor is very good but hes not the UKs top fighter is he
Theres one two youd place above him isnt there?
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
Technically he's gotta be right up there,
I just think he does everything very well and has that spite in him to get in the trenches when he has to.
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
This is gonna be a better fight than Canelo v Saunders 😎
http://www.boxingtalk.com/Jose-Ramir...nderdog-status
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
Undercard fights
Vivas vs Coria
Vivas (20-1, 11 KOs) went 2-0 last year inside the MGM Grand Las Vegas Bubble, outlasting Carlos Jackson in a Fight of the Year contender and knocking out John Vincent Moralde in the opening round. A former Mexican amateur standout, Vivas has won three straight bouts since a points loss to Ruben Villa. Coria (12-4, 7 KOs), from Moreno Valley, California, hopes to break a two-bout losing skid, although both defeats came in brawls that could’ve easily gone his way. Last June, he dropped a majority decision to Adam Lopez, and four months later, he knocked down 2016 Olympic gold medalist Robson Conceicao en route to a disputed unanimous decision verdict.
Ramirez vs Tapia
Ramirez (6-1, 4 KOs) turned his career around following a shocking decision defeat to Adan Gonzales in his professional debut. He avenged that loss last July via shutout decision and most recently knocked out Brandon Valdes (13-1 at the time) in the sixth round. Ramirez makes his 2021 debut against Tapia (10-3, 3 KOs), a seven-year pro who has gone the distance against 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Vladimir Nikitin and pound-for-pound standout Shakur Stevenson.
Cortes vs Garza
Las Vegas native Andres Cortes (13-0, 7 KOs) will make his 11th consecutive hometown appearance, this time against Eduardo “Thunder” Garza (15-3-1, 8 KOs) in an eight-round junior lightweight tilt. Cortes made a memorable impression inside the MGM Grand Las Vegas Bubble last July, recovering from a fourth-round knockdown to outpoint Alejandro Salinas.
Muratella vs Gallegos
Raymond “Danger” Muratalla (11-0, 9 KOs), the Robert Garcia-trained lightweight prospect from Fontana, California, will fight Jose Luis Gallegos (20-10, 15 KOs) in an eight-rounder. Muratalla is coming off a third-round stoppage win over Luis Porozo last November on the Terence Crawford-Kell Brook card, his sixth consecutive knockout win.
Martinez vs Metcalf
Middleweight prospect Javier "Milwaukee Made" Martinez (3-0, 1 KO), who was once the top-ranked American amateur at 165 pounds, will fight veteran Calvin Metcalf (10-5-1, 3 KOs) in a six-rounder. Martinez last fought Feb. 20 and knocked out Billy Wagner in the first round.
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
i like louie. he won both those last fights. another tough fight for him here
Re: Taylor vs Ramirez - UNDISPUTED - May 22 - Las Vegas - ESPN
Josh Taylor eyeing boxing immortality in undisputed Las Vegas clash with Jose Ramirez
'Tartan Tornado' is on the brink of becoming Britain's first four-belt world champion
Josh Taylor is itching to etch his name into the history books against Jose Ramirez by becoming Britain’s first undisputed world champion of the four-belt era.
Only four other male fighters from around the world — Oleksandr Usyk, Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor and Terence Crawford — have held the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO titles consecutively in their divisions.
And the 30-year-old 'Tartan Tornado' knows he will achieve boxing immortality if he can add 28-year-old American Ramirez’s WBC and WBO belts to the light-welterweight titles he already holds in Las Vegas on Saturday.
He said: “To be on the doorstep of achieving it is crazy.
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...S219634053.jpg
“This is why I’m so motivated — my name will have some kind of greatness attached to it if I win this fight.
“Undisputed world champion in the four-belt era, the first person from Britain to do it, the first person in Scotland to do it, and there are only four other fighters in the world to have done it.
“It’s a really, really special club to be a member of and it’s one that puts my name in the history books so people will hopefully be talking about me when I’m long gone.”
Lennox Lewis was the last undisputed world champion from Britain after his 1999 victory over Evander Holyfield completed the set of WBC, WBA and IBF titles in the three-belt era.
While Taylor’s fellow Scot, Ken Buchanan, became Britain’s first undisputed world champion in 1971, when he held the WBC and WBA world lightweight titles.
Taylor added: “I never thought I’d hear my name mentioned in the same breath as Kenny’s as an undisputed world champion.
“Even when I turned professional, people were saying, ‘Can you be as good as Ken Buchanan?’
“I was, like, ‘Don’t disrespect the man, this is an all-time British great and you’re putting me in the same breath. Come on, that’s ridiculous’.
“But now it’s a realistic goal and I’m just a few days from achieving what he achieved.
“I’m close to Kenny as well, I’ve seen him a lot over the years.
“I’d love to go home and see him with the belts and say, ‘Look, I’m just like you, Champ’.”
Taylor only sees his clash with Ramirez, who is also unbeaten, ending one way.
He said: “I’ve visualised this fight over and over, thousands of times in my head, I’ve imagined it in lots of different ways, and every single time it’s me winning.
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...n-Buchanan.jpg
“My speed, power, skill, accuracy, boxing IQ, my brain will be different to anything he has faced before.
“The ball is in my court, the way I want to take the fight on, I’m better than him in every department and my skill levels will be the difference.
“He’s a very good fighter, he comes forward, puts the pressure on and he’s very good at what he does, so I’m not here disrespecting him.
“I just believe I’m better than him and he is going to have to prove me wrong.”
Ramirez v Taylor will stream live and exclusively in the UK on FITE for £9.99. Live coverage begins at 130am UK on Sunday, May 23.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxin...ality-24114870