Josh Taylor is more confident than ever that he’ll beat Jose Ramirez convincingly.
The Scottish southpaw expects to meet Ramirez in his following fight if Taylor wins his mandated championship defense September 26. Their 140-pound title unification fight would be one of the most appealing bouts in boxing, but Taylor doesn’t think it’d be all that difficult after recently watching Ramirez edge Viktor Postol in Las Vegas.
The unbeaten Ramirez topped Postol by majority decision in their 12-rounder, though Taylor saw it as close enough to warrant a draw.
“It wasn’t a very good performance for Ramirez,” Taylor told BoxingScene.com. “I thought Postol boxed really well. He could’ve been a little bit more aggressive, and he could’ve nicked the win. But I wasn’t impressed with Ramirez at all. I thought he was quite flat, you know, coming in with a high guard, telegraphing his punches. I wasn’t impressed.
“I’m very happy with what I saw from Ramirez. I’m licking my lips and rubbing my hands together. I’m very happy from what I saw. I don’t feel I’ll have any problems in that fight, going on that performance.”
Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs), of Avenal, California, had difficulty dealing with the Ukrainian contender’s excellent jab and movement.
Judge Dave Moretti scored their fight even (114-114), but Tim Cheatham (115-113) and Steve Weisfeld (116-112) overruled him. CompuBox unofficially credited Ramirez for landing only nine more punches overall than Postol (156-of-556 to 147-of-668).
The 28-year-old Ramirez retained his WBC and WBO 140-pound championships.
“I, personally, could’ve scored it a draw,” said Taylor, who beat Postol (31-3, 12 KOs) by unanimous decision in June 2018. “You know, I thought it could’ve been six apiece. I though Postol ran away with the early rounds, the first four or five rounds. Postol was making Ramirez look very silly, making him miss, and popping him with the jab – jabbing and moving and out-boxing him. And then Ramirez came on halfway through the fight. And then, Postol stole a couple later rounds as well. So, I, myself, personally, would’ve scored it a draw.”
The 29-year-old Taylor (16-0, 12 KOs), who owns the IBF and WBA 140-pound crowns, is training to battle Thailand’s Apinun Khongsong (16-0, 13 KOs) on September 26 at BT Sport’s Studio in London. Khongsong is the mandatory challenger for Taylor’s IBF belt.
Taylor would welcome a quick turnaround and a fight versus Ramirez before the end of this year, assuming he beats Khongsong and comes out of their fight unscathed. Whenever it happens, Taylor believes he can stop Ramirez inside the distance.
“He’s much more hurtable,” Taylor said. “For one, I think he comes forward with all that pressure in fights. I’ll walk him into a shot, and I think I’ll hurt him. I think I can knock him out.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
