By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Maurice Hooker knows he’ll have his hands full with Jose Ramirez.

If Hooker can win their 140-pound title unification fight, though, Hooker hopes he gets a chance to oppose Regis Prograis. If Prograis can beat Josh Taylor in the final of the World Boxing Super Series and Hooker overcomes Ramirez, a bout between Hooker and Prograis would be for complete supremacy in their division.

“That’d be a war,” Hooker told BoxingScene.com. “I really wanna fight Regis. That’s the fight I really want. He wanna fight me, too. We had a couple of words with each other in interviews. But I want him. That’s the guy I want. I really wanna fight that guy.”

New Orleans’ Prograis (24-0, 20 KOs) has established himself as the most dangerous puncher in the junior welterweight division. He battered Belarus’ Kiryl Relikh (23-3, 19 KOs) in his last fight, a sixth-round stoppage in the WBSS semifinals April 27 in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Prograis went the distance to earn his previous victory, a unanimous-decision defeat of England’s Terry Flanagan (33-2, 13 KOs) on October 27 in New Orleans. Hooker won the WBO junior welterweight title by defeating Flanagan by split decision 13 months ago in Manchester, England, Flanagan’s hometown.

Hooker has heard Prograis criticize his level of opposition, but Dallas’ Hooker is confident his resume compares well with Prograis’ record.

“He just talks too much,” Hooker said. “He’s been backing it up, too, but he talks too much. He wanna say who are the guys that I fought? The last two guys I fought were undefeated [Alex Saucedo and Mikkel LesPierre]. The guys he fought got one or two losses, and had tasted defeat before. The guys I had fought never lost. He beat Terry Flanagan, but I had already beat Terry Flanagan. And I beat Terry Flanagan in England. That would’ve been different [for Prograis]. He wouldn’t have been comfortable. The crowd would’ve gotten to him. It’s different. I went over there and beat Terry Flanagan. He fought Terry Flanagan in his hometown. That’s a big difference, you know?”

The 29-year-old Hooker (26-0-3, 17 KOs) is scheduled to meet Ramirez (24-0, 16 KOs), the WBC super lightweight champ, July 27 at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas (DAZN).

Prograis and Scotland’s Josh Taylor (15-0, 12 KOs) have advanced to square off in the WBSS 140-pound championship match. They’ll fight for Prograis’ WBA and Taylor’s IBF titles on a date and at a site to be determined.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.