NEW YORK – The more people ask Jose Ramirez about boxing Terence Crawford, the more convinced Ramirez becomes that they’re destined to fight.
Ramirez still wants to face Josh Taylor to determine complete supremacy in the 140-pound division. If promotional and/or network and streaming affiliations prevent that fight from occurring, however, Ramirez would welcome a showdown with Crawford sooner rather than later.
Ramirez and Crawford both are promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., thus their fight should be comparatively easy to put together.
“It’s happening,” Ramirez told BoxingScene.com before Crawford stopped Egidjius Kavaliauskas in the ninth round Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. “The more times people mention it, the more I’m able to think about it and really get a liking for this [Crawford] fight.”
Crawford-Ramirez would become bigger if Ramirez were to defeat Taylor and move up as an undisputed junior welterweight champion. The 32-year-old Crawford, who holds the WBO welterweight title, was the fully unified 140-pound champion prior to advancing to 147 pounds last year.
The 27-year-old Ramirez would be an underdog against Crawford, but he stands two inches taller than the Omaha, Nebraska, native. Ramirez also would be a top opponent for Crawford (37-0, 26 KOs) if Arum can’t secure a fight against another elite welterweight for the unbeaten three-division champion.
“I would definitely be up for fighting Crawford,” Ramirez said. “You know, it’s just I would love to give myself some time to build my body properly to the welterweight division. Because I wanna give myself the maximum possibility to win. I don’t go in there to lose, man. I go in there to win. The day I’m in front of Crawford, it’s because, to the people’s eyes, I’ll make sure they think it’s a 50-50 fight. I train like the underdog, man, but I know I’m not a 60-40 fighter in the way that they’re gonna have a walk in the park with me, or an easy fight.
“So, the day that I do come across Crawford, it’s gonna be another tremendous fight, and I’m looking forward to it. I’m growing as a 140-pounder. I’m getting stronger as a fighter. He’s 32 and I’m 27. He’ll be 33 and I’ll be 28. So, our bodies will still be able to compete to that maximum potential. In due time, I’ll be happy to do it.”
Meanwhile, Ramirez is preparing to make a mandatory defense of his WBC 140-pound crown against Ukraine’s Viktor Postol, a former WBC champ. Ramirez (25-0, 17 KOs) will oppose Postol (31-2, 12 KOs) on February 1 at Mission Hills Resort Haikou in Haikou, China.
Ramirez, of Avenal, California, also has a mandatory defense due of his WBO 140-pound title. If he gets past Postol, he hopes to satisfy his WBO mandatory obligation against England’s Jack Catterall (25-0, 13 KOs) by sometime in the summer.
If he were to beat Catterall, too, Ramirez hopes to battle Scotland’s Taylor (16-0, 12 KOs), the IBF/WBA champ, in a 140-pound championship unification match by the end of 2020. Even if Ramirez doesn’t get the chance to face Taylor, Ramirez would challenge Crawford without taking another welterweight fight first.
“I’m not worried about that,” Ramirez said. “I’ll be happy to go straight to him. But I would need some time to build more muscle and let my body grow a little bit, in regards to the muscle and to see how I feel as a 147-pounder. But yeah, it doesn’t matter if I go straight to him. It could happen mid-2021, which a year goes so fast, goes in the blink of an eye.
“So right now, my ultimate goal is to continue fighting the best at 140, in my division, and then go to the welterweight division. And who knows? I might be an even better fighter at welterweight. Some fighters become better fighters when they put on those extra pounds. They feel stronger, they feel better. So, I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.