Jose Ramirez wants Teofimo Lopez once Josh Taylor vacates his 140-lb titles

By Boxing News - 06/01/2021 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez says he wants to stay at 140 long enough to face Teofimo Lopez for one of the titles once Josh Taylor vacates and moves up to 147.

Surprisingly, Taylor, 30, hasn’t shown interest in wanting to stick around the 140-lb division to battle the unbeaten Teofimo Lopez.

Instead, Taylor will be defending his four light welterweight titles against his WBO mandatory Jack Catterall (26-0, 13 KOs) next, and then vacating the four belts to go up to 147.

Teofimo – Ramirez will be a war from start to finish, and we could see one of them knocked out. If Ramirez wins, it would be great for him to stay at 140 long enough to face former WBA champion Regis Prograis, who gave Josh Taylor all he could handle in October 2019.

Prograis (26-1, 22 KOs) has won his last two fights since his loss to Taylor, and he’s improved. If Prograis fought Taylor now, he’d likely beat him.

Taylor wouldn’t be able to count on getting the better of Prograis on the inside, and his punch & hold spoiling technique wouldn’t work.

Ramirez (26-1, 17 KOs) lost a narrow 12 round unanimous decision last month to IBF/WBA 140-lb champion Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs) for the undisputed light welterweight championship in Las Vegas, Nevada. Taylor edged it by the scores 114-112, 114-112 114-112.

Many would agree that the fight was decided on a knockout by Taylor in the seventh, in which he hit Ramirez on the break with a sneaky left hand.

The referee let the knockdown stand despite it being a clear example of hitting on the break. Also, Taylor got away a massive amount of clinching. Taylor would throw a shot and then grab Ramirez immediately to keep him from countering.

On top of that, Taylor made it a habit of grabbing Ramirez when he was coming forward to throw his combinations.

Image: Jose Ramirez wants Teofimo Lopez once Josh Taylor vacates his 140-lb titles

The holding that Taylor used neutralized Ramirez’s offense almost entirely in the second half of the contest when he was taking over the fight.

Teofimo vs. Ramirez would be an excellent action-packed fight and likely a lot more exciting than the Taylor-Ramirez contest.

With Teofimo, he doesn’t use nonstop clinching as a tool to win fights, as we saw with Josh Taylor. Teofimo believes in winning fights without spoiling and putting the fans to sleep.

You can argue that’s the difference between Teofimo and Josh Taylor. Teofimo wants to entertain the fans, which is why he’s popular.

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