Whatever doubt lingered in Jose Ramirez emerging with his titles intact versus mandatory challenger Viktor Postol was removed once the scorecards were read in hailing him as winner by majority decision.

Moving forward with plans for an undisputed championship showdown with Josh Taylor, however, can prove to be an even more difficult fight.

Ramirez managed to make the fourth defense of his World Boxing Council (WBO) title following his hard-fought victory over Ukraine’s Postol (31-3, 12KOs) this past Saturday in Las Vegas. Their ESPN+ headliner came on the third try for the 28-year old from Avenal, California, who was due to face Postol on February 2 in Haikou, China, which in turn was reschedule for May 9 in Fresno, with both dates wiped out due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Lost in the shuffle was another outstanding mandatory title defense, as Jack Catterall (25-0, 13KOs) has been the World Boxing Organization (WBO) challenger in waiting since January 2019. The Puerto Rico-based sanctioning body wasted little time in drawing attention to that outstanding matter.

“It was a closer fight than I thought, but Ramirez retains his WBO title,” Francisco ‘Paco’ Valcárcel, president of the WBO noted after Saturday’s bout. “Congratulations. WBO [m]andatory next.”

Catterall was an inherited mandatory challenger by the time Ramirez picked up the WBO belt in a 6th round knockout of Maurice Hooker in their unification clash last July in Arlington, Texas. Ramirez was ordered to begin negotiations with the unbeaten Brit less than two weeks after becoming a two-belt champ, although it was ultimately decided that the WBC and Postol would be first in line.

The current global health crisis—which all but shut down the sport for the entire spring—resulted in a six-month delay for Ramirez’s eventual clash with Postol. It also delayed plans for Taylor—the current IBF/WBA titlist—to honor his own mandatory title defense versus Thailand’s Apinun Khongsong (16-0, 13KOs), which was pushed back from May 2 in front of a rabid crowd at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow to September 26 in a closed-doors lot at BT Sport Studio in East London.

All involved parties hoped that what would come next was a head-on collision to determine junior welterweight supremacy. Those plans could get pushed back to 2021, if Catterall remains firm on his months-long stand on the topic.

“I am Ramirez’s mandatory and he is going to have to fulfill that at some point,” Catterall insisted this past June. “Of course, he does not want to fight me – it is not going to be as big of reward as opposed to fighting Josh Taylor for a unification involving all four world title belts.

“He is a good solid come forward fighter and world titles are not just handed out, but I believe in myself. I see a few things when studying him that I will be able to capitalize on when we fight. I feel I am getting fitter, smarter, and stronger each day that passes. When it is my time, I will not be denied.”

For the moment, Catterall at least has the WBO on his side.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox