By Tim Royner: Undefeated #3 WBC Jose Ramirez (21-0, 16 KOs) will be fighting #1 WBC Amir Imam (21-1, 18 KOs) on March 17 on ESPN for the vacant World Boxing Council light welterweight title a Madison Square Garden in New York.
This is a Top Rank promoted card. The Ramirez-Imam fight takes place on St. Patrick’s Day. The undercard has 2-time Irish Olympian Michael Conlan fighting a still to be determined opponent in an 8 round fight a super bantamweight. Conlan is also fighting this Saturday night in the co-feature bout on the Vasyly Lomachenko vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux card on ESPN at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Conlan will be fighting Luis Fernando Molina (7-3-1, 2 KOs). Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is giving Conlan a hard push in putting him in highly visible positions so soon in his career, but he’s actually older than the 25-year-old Ramirez at 26. Conlan hasn’t shown the same type of talent as Jose Ramirez yet. Of the two, Ramirez looks like the far better fighter, and the guy with the pro style of fighting that will take him far in the sport.
Having Conlan on the Ramirez vs. Imam card will help draw boxing fans to Madison Square Garden. Conlan has a lot of Irish boxing fans in the New York area that will turn out to watch him fight. Imam is from Albany, New York, and he should be able to bring in a lot of fans. Conlan fought earlier this year on St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 in making his pro debut against Tim Ibarra. According to ESPN, Arum is going to have Conlan fight on St. Patrick’s Day yearly.
Ramirez, 25, looks like he could be a real star for Top Rank in the future now that Terence Crawford has vacated his 4 titles at 140 and moved up to the welterweight division. Had Crawford stuck around, it’s unlikely the 5’10” Ramirez would have been able to beat him, even though he’s a little taller. Crawford doesn’t have the same amateur background that Ramirez was blessed with, but it doesn’t matter. Crawford is fighting on another level right now. Ramirez can still potentially take over the 140 lb. division and dominate it in the same way that Crawford did if he can get past the lanky 5’10 1/2” Imam on March 17, and continue to excel in the future.
“Not only is it St. Patrick’s Day and Mick Conlan will be on the card, but it’s going to be a really interesting card because there’ll be a vacant 140-pound championship — my fighter, Top Rank’s fighter, Jose Ramirez, a young kid from Fresno, against, listen to this, Don King’s fighter, Amir Imam,” Arum said to ESPN.com.
The 2012 U.S Olympian Ramirez looked out of this world good in his last fight in obliterating a very good fighter in Mike Reed (23-1, 12 KOs) in a 2nd round knockout on November 11 at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno, California. Ramirez never even gave the southpaw Reed a chance in the fight. Ramirez was on top of Reed from the start, nailing him with vicious body and head shots, and looking like a young Julio Cesar Chavez. Ramirez dropped Reed in the 2nd round. The fight was halted moments later after Reed got back up. The victor for Ramirez over Reed put him in position as the mandatory to challenge for the vacant WBC 140-lb title that Crawford had vacated last September.
It’s too bad Crawford moved up before Ramirez was ready to fight him because that would have been a thrilling fight to see between them. I don’t know if Ramirez would have beaten Crawford, but I do think he’d have given him his toughest test as a pro. Most of the guys that Crawford has beaten didn’t have the mental aspect to their games to adapt and come up with Plan-B options to try against him. Ramirez is one of those fighters that would adjust and use a variety of different strategies to try and beat Crawford. It would have made te fight challenging, especially if Ramirez was able to take the fight to the inside and force Crawford to brawl at close range. Imam, 27, fought on the Ramirez-Reed undercard on November 11 in stopping an over-matched Johnny Garcia in the 4th round. It was a showcase card for Ramirez and Imam.
Imam struggles with pressure fighters. He was stopped in the 8th round by Adrian Granados on November 28, 2015. Imam never was able to get comfortable with the heat that Granados was putting on him in that fight. Imam trailed on 2 of the 3 cards at the time he was stopped in the 8th. If Imam hasn’t improved with his ability to handle being pressed by his opponents, then he likely won’t last long against Ramirez on March 17. He’s an even more effective pressure fighter than Granados. The difference between the two is the size and punching power. Ramirez is taller and more powerful than Granados. Imam has won his last 3 fights since his loss to Granados. In Imam’s last 3 fights, he’s beaten Wilfredo Acuna (16-19), Jose Vidal Soto (26-23-2) and Johnny Garcia (19-5-1). Those guys are obviously journeyman level opponents, so it remains to be seen whether Imam has improved his game since his loss to Granados. I’d say it’s unlikely that Imam has made major improvements since the defeat. Never the less, Imam is a good puncher, and if he’s able to catch Ramirez with one of his big shots, he could stop him early. Most of Imam’s knockouts in his 6-year pro career has come early in his fights.
Imam was eliminated by Errol Spence in the 2012 U.S Olympic Boxing trials, and thus he wasn’t able to make the team for the London Olympics that year. Imam’s best wins as a pro has come against Fidel Maldonado Jr., Walter Castillo, Yordenis Ugas and Fernando Angulo. Those are good fighters for the most part, and Imam dominated them. Ugas gave Imam some problems at times in their fight in 2013, but ultimately Imam had too much talent.
Ramirez has to be viewed as the favorite to beat Imam to win the vacant WBC light welterweight title on March 17. Unless Imam catches Ramirez with something big, it’s unlikely we’ll see an upset in this fight.