Fresno’s Jose Ramirez loses bid to become undisputed junior welterweight boxing champion
Jose Ramirez’s dream of becoming the first Mexican-American undisputed boxing champion in the four-belt era fell short.
The Fresno fighter lost a unanimous decision against Josh Taylor in the nationally televised 12-round junior welterweight unification title bout Saturday night at The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
“It wasn’t my night tonight,” Ramirez said. “I’m very blessed that I made it this far. Wish I could go an hour behind and do it again a little differently.”
It is the first loss for Ramirez (26-1, 17 KOs) — who grew up in Avenal and became a U.S. Olympian — since turning pro in 2012, when he made his debut in Las Vegas.
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Tim Cheatham, Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld scored the fight 114-112 in favor of Taylor, who twice knocked down Ramirez.
Taylor, 30, of Scotland, improves to 18-0.
Ramirez said he felt good in the early rounds, especially in the third when he landed multiple body shots. The judges all gave that round to Ramirez 10-9.
Everything was going according to plan until the knockdowns in the sixth and seventh rounds, Ramirez said.
“In the fifth round, I felt like I was doing really well,” he said. “In the sixth round, I came in and I thought I was doing well until the knockdown came. I lost the round.
“No matter how much more you do, once they score a knockdown against you, (you have to keep going). I wanted to show in the next round that I was still in the fight, and I was far away from giving up.”
Controversy?
The seventh arrived and Ramirez got caught with an uppercut, dropping his hands for an instant as he appeared to anticipate the referee was stepping in to separate the fighters.
Taylor connected on Ramirez, whose head snapped back and bounced on the canvas after he fell.
Social media lit up, with some saying they clearly saw referee Kenny Bayless tap Taylor and put up his hands, seemingly indicating he was going to tell the fighters to break.
“I felt like his job was to break us because he said, ‘As long as you guys clinched, I’m going to come in and separate you guys,’” Ramirez recalled Bayless saying in the ring. “I stepped back, but he threw an uppercut.”
Ramirez, however, gave the credit to Taylor and even faulted himself while wishing he could’ve done things differently in that moment and elsewhere in the bout.
“His confidence grew after the flash knockdowns,” Ramirez said. “It’s hard to beat a guy that has confidence and tries to take control at the end of the fight, and that was my mistake. I had to try to take control of the fight multiple times because of my lack of discipline during the clinching.”
What is next for Ramirez?
Where does Ramirez go from here. Will he remain in the 140-pound weight limit class or move up to 147?
Is a rematch in the cards?
His agent/promoter Rick Mirigian gave a little hint of Ramirez’s future.
“Jose has got a lot of options,” he said. “Josh and Jose still do. Jose is still atop of the 140 division with no questions asked and could go win a number of belts again. Josh can go up. You will probably see these guys again at 147.
“I think boxing won tonight overall. There were no losers in this fight tonight. I think we proved on ESPN that when a fighter like Jose and a fighter like Josh step up, the sport wins overall and I think that is what tonight is about.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2021 at 7:59 PM.
