ESPN+ has one of its best matches of the year on tap as unified WBC/WBO Jr. welterweight titlist Jose Ramirez (25-0, 17 KO) faces former WBC titlist and current WBC mandatory challenger Viktor Postol (31-2, 12 KO). The delayed showdown was expected earlier this year but 2020 happened and here we are.
It’s not the fight everyone really wants in the division.
Last year, Ramirez beat Maurice Hooker in a unification bout while Josh Taylor (16-0, 12 KO) unified the WBA and IBF belts to win the World Boxing Super Series. At two belts apiece, there was one obvious fight to go.
Boxing rarely works in straight lines.
Take away COVID and we might already be anticipating an all-belts-on-the-line showdown. The timeline has been pushed back but all signs still seem to point toward a showdown sooner than later.
What showdown will that be?
Could the aspiration shift after this weekend (Saturday, 7:30 PM EST) from Taylor-Ramirez to Taylor-Postol II?
It’s not unthinkable.
Neither is a completely different path should an upset occur this weekend. Top Rank has to be desperate for a notable opponent at welterweight for WBO titlist Terence Crawford. A Postol upset could potentially create an opening to skip straight to Crawford-Taylor if Taylor wins next month.
The opposite could prove true if we get the expected this weekend and an upset in September.
In the moment, the goings on at 140 are more tangible than hypotheticals seven pounds higher.
Postol, though now 36, has only lost to the best in his class. Crawford beat him in a decisive fashion in a 2016 unification bout. Taylor had a tougher night when he faced Postol in 2018. In a bout much, much closer than the official scores, Taylor earned just his 13th victory to come of age as a professional.
It’s as close as Postol has come to the form he showed in ending the mystique around Lucas Matthysse once and for all. If he has one more big night, he could give fits to the still maturing 2012 Olympian this weekend.
While Hooker was no doubt a career best performance for Ramirez, it came on the heels of a very tough night for Ramirez against Jose Zepeda. Postol can match Ramirez’s above average length for the division, has a wealth of experience, and to date has shown solid whiskers.
Ramirez deserves to be the favorite. He’s far from prohibitive.
That’s a healthy place for the Jr. welterweights to be. If we can’t get straight to the obvious big showdown, the road there need not be paved with easy outs.
Taylor has his own mandatory up next from the IBF in Apinun Sakreerin (16-0, 13 KO). Sakreerin’s resume doesn’t reveal much about his chances. It feels like a less likely obstacle to Ramirez-Taylor.
Imagine if by the end of next month boxing is staring at Postol-Sakreerin as the ultimate unification battle? Stranger things have happened.
Nothing should be taken for granted until all the pieces fall into place.
For Ramirez, this is both an unofficial semi-final and potential trap fight. With a year out of the ring since the Hooker victory, the Central California star has a chance to not only win but further demand.
A showdown of undefeated titlists in their 20s is always a welcome destination. As long as there are opponents in the way, it’s never certain.
Cliff’s Notes…
Alexander Povetkin dramatically kept his career alive in what might have been the most memorable fight of his career. Dillian Whyte beat some good heavyweights along the way but it says something about Povetkin that, so far, it’s taken only the highest caliber heavyweight has to offer to decisively defeat him…Soccer fans will read a lot of Messi divorce headlines in the coming days. It’s too easy…Jeff Horn winning a welterweight belt from Manny Pacquiao, even controversially, is one of those items that will stick out like a sore thumb years from now. It’s up there with Jorge Vaca-Lloyd Honeyghan for outcomes that likely could only have happened on a given day…Could this finally be the year for the Oakland A’s? In a sprint baseball season, it feels like anything can happen…Saul Alvarez-Callum Smith would be interesting enough, but can DAZN get their marquee player in the ring this year…Whyte’s loss may open a door to get to Fury-Joshua easier next year but there are still roads to travel before what as the potential to be one of the biggest stadium events in boxing history.
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at [email protected]