Junior welterweight titleholder Jose Ramirez will move up to welterweight sooner or later. Emphasis on later.
Ramirez, who holds two of the four major 140-pound titles, said in a recent Top Rank interview that he wants to unify all the belts before leaving the division. That means he’d have to fight Josh Taylor, who holds the other two titles.
A title defense against mandatory challenger Viktor Postol has been postponed twice because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think I owe I to myself to fight for all the belts,” Ramirez said. “If I were to move up to the next weight class [without doing so], there will always be that doubt because there is another guy with two belts. And there are some other fighters that I did not get to face at 140.”
Ramirez also has a mandatory defense against Jack Catterall due on his other title. And Taylor is scheduled to defend against his own mandatory challenger Apinun Khongsong.
So it would appear that the earliest a Ramirez-Taylor fight could take place is next year. Ramirez is willing to wait.
“I really want to prove a lot of people wrong,” Ramirez said. “I want to do it to myself. I know I can be the best 140 in the world. I know I can see myself with all four of those belts, and it’s a matter of time.
“Once I do that, it’s going to put my name worldwide. It is definitely going to make a stronger impact when I do move to 147 knowing that the undisputed world champion is moving up to 147. I think that’s going to make more noise.”