By Brad Slotnick: Bob Arum didn’t appear elated after Josh Taylor’s 12 round unanimous decision win over Jose Ramirez last Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Arum says Ramirez will “go back to the drawing board” with Ramirez, who suffered the first defeat of his nine-year professional career. Ramirez hadn’t lost a fight since his 15-11 defeat to Fazliddin Gaibnazarov in the 2012 Olympics.
One immediate option for Arum would be to match Ramirez against Jose Zepeda in a rematch. Those two fought in 2019, with Ramirez edging the fight by a 12 round majority decision. Zepeda fought on the undercard of Taylor vs. Ramirez last Saturday, beating Hanky Lundy by a 12 round decision.
Judging by how down Ramirez was after the fight, he’s taken the defeat to Taylor really hard. He almost sounded like he was near tears when being interviewed moments after the clash.
The Top Rank promoter Arum should have been pleased with IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Taylor’s victory over WBC/WBO champ Ramirez (27-1, 17 KOs), as it created a new star in the 140-lb division. Also, Taylor’s victory turned him into the four-belt undisputed light welterweight champion.
But in looking at Arum’s gloomy appearance after the fight, it seemed obvious that he wanted Ramirez to win. You can certainly understand why Arum would have been better off if Ramirez had gotten his hand raised instead of Taylor.
Ramirez is an American, and he would have been able to increase his star power nationally if he’d gotten the victory. Arum can do more with Ramirez to turn him into a bankable star than the Scottish fighter Taylor, who fought his first fight on U.S soil last Saturday.
It takes years to turn a foreign fighter into a star, and at 30, Taylor doesn’t have enough time.
“We’re going to go back to the drawing board,” said Arum to Boxing Social when asked what next for Jose Ramirez. “He’s got a long career in front of him. He fought a very good fight tonight.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board and figure it out. He’s immensely popular in California in the Central California area,” Arum said of Ramirez.
It should be fairly easy for Arum to ramp Ramirez back up to get another world title. These are good options for Ramirez’s next fight:
- Regis Prograis
- Shakhram Giyasov
- Arnold Barboza
- Jose Zepeda
- Viktor Postol
- Lewis Ritson
- Gervonta Davis
- Mario Barrios
- Subriel Matias
“He pretty much apologized and said it was part of his game plan,” said Ramirez to ESPN about Josh Taylor apologizing to him after the fight. “I told him there are certain words I’m not used to.
“But I’m a man of faith, and God teaches us to forgive and be good people and not be a part of the unjust. I forgive him, but in the future, I’m down to fight him again,” said Ramirez.
It’s not realistic for Taylor to give Ramirez a rematch at this point. There are too many big-money fights for Taylor right now.
