For the second time this year, Jesus Ramos Jnr will fight at middleweight. He insists that he’s not leaving the junior middleweight division behind, however.
Ramos will face Shane Mosley Jnr for the interim WBC middleweight belt in Las Vegas on October 25 on the pay-per-view undercard of Sebastian Fundora vs. Keith Thurman.
“I’m excited to be going for my first title against a great fighter in Shane Mosley Jnr,” Ramos said. “This title shot is long overdue, and I’m ready to become champion. I still have title aspirations at 154lbs and several names in that division that I’m hoping to fight, but first I’m fully focused on Shane Mosley Jnr.”
Ramos, 23-1 (19 KOs), moved from welterweight to junior middleweight in 2021. He has been on a good run, including a decision victory over Brian Mendoza that same year and giving Joey Spencer his first loss in March 2023. That led to a fight with Erickson Lubin in September 2023; Lubin won a controversial unanimous decision.
Since then, Ramos had scored three straight TKO wins, taking out the 34-2 Johan Gonzalez in nine rounds, putting away the faded Jeison Rosario in eight rounds this February – that was at middleweight – and dispatching the 16-3-2 Guido Schramm in seven rounds this past March on the undercard of Fundora’s win over Chordale Booker.
Mosley, 22-4 (12 KOs), the namesake son of his Hall of Fame father, seemed as if he had hit his ceiling in 2021, when he dropped a majority decision to Jason Quigley.
That was Mosley’s fourth professional defeat. He has successfully staved off a fifth, instead putting together five straight wins, including a majority decision over Gabriel Rosado at super middleweight in 2022, a seventh-round TKO of the 21-1-1 D’Mitrius Ballard at middleweight in 2023 and a unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs at super middleweight in July 2024 in what was Mosley’s most recent outing.
“He is on a nice little winning streak,” Ramos said, “and I plan to put it to an end on October 25.”
The primary WBC title at 160lbs belongs to Carlos Adames, who most recently fought in February, when he retained in a controversial draw against Hamzah Sheeraz. Many observers believe Adames deserved the victory.
Mosley is ranked 10th by the WBC and was awarded this opportunity despite nine other middleweights being rated ahead of him. Ramos is ranked third at 154lbs.
If Ramos wins, he’ll need to decide whether to vie for a shot at Adames or to return to the far more star-studded junior middleweight division.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
