If Josh Taylor beats his mandatory challenger September 26, the unbeaten IBF/WBA champion probably will battle Jose Ramirez in his following fight for full supremacy in the 140-pound division.
Promoter Dmitriy Salita is confident, though, that, titles aside, he represents the best junior welterweight in boxing. Salita just hopes Shohjahon Ergashev gets the opportunity to prove him right.
The powerful southpaw from Uzbekistan hasn’t been able to land a high-profile fight within the 140-pound division in large part, Salita suspects, because the 28-year-old knockout artist is viewed as a high-risk, low-reward option for either champions or former champions.
“Ergashev has the power and the skills to beat either Josh Taylor or Jose Ramirez,” Salita told BoxingScene.com. “Because his power is so deadly, it would make either one of those fights extremely exciting because we don’t know what kind of chin either of those guys have. They’ve never been hit by someone like Shohjahon before. So, I feel that he brings significant interest to the elite of the junior welterweight division.
“And physically, he’s such a big guy that once he wins some titles at junior welterweight, he will be able to compete at 147. With his size, with his strength, with his power, he will be effective at that weight as well. Ergashev, in my opinion, has the potential to be a superstar. Now that the pandemic is easing, and there’s big fights taking place, we’d love to get him in the ring against one of the best guys, so that the boxing world can see more of him at the highest level.”
Ergashev (18-0, 16 KOs) last fought January 17, when he knocked out Mexico’s Adrian Estrella (29-5, 24 KOs) in the first round of a scheduled 10-rounder Showtime televised as part of its “ShoBox: The New Generation” series.
Salita and Lou DiBella, Regis Prograis’ former promoter, tried to make an Ergashev-Prograis bout earlier this summer, once Prograis’ fight against another former champ, Maurice Hooker, fell apart over weight and money. New Orleans’ Prograis (24-1, 20 KOs) since has agreed to face Juan Heraldez (16-0-1, 10 KOs), of North Las Vegas, Nevada, on the Gervonta Davis-Leo Santa Cruz pay-per-view undercard October 24 at a site to be determined.
Taylor (16-0, 12 KOs) is training to make a mandated defense of his IBF junior welterweight title against Thailand’s Apinun Khongsong (16-0, 13 KOs). The Taylor-Khongsong fight will be streamed by ESPN+ on September 26 from BT Sport’s Studio in London.
If the heavily favored Taylor wins, promoter Bob Arum hopes to match the Scottish southpaw versus Ramirez sometime before the end of 2020. Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs), of Avenal, California, beat Ukraine’s Viktor Postol (31-3, 12 KOs) by majority decision in their 12-round fight for Ramirez’s WBC and WBO 140-pound crowns Saturday night at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
“The three top guys in the junior welterweight division that are undefeated are Taylor, Ramirez and Ergashev,” Salita said. “And Ergashev has been scoring exciting, highlight-reel knockouts. He’s been training with [Javan] ‘Sugar Hill’ Steward over the past 18 months at the Kronk Gym. His boxing IQ is increasing with each fight and he has a fan-friendly style.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
