Jose Ramirez not shy about a possible Terence Crawford bout in the future!
Unified junior welterweight champion Jose Ramirez (25-0, 17ko) is all set to defend his titles against former WBC champion Viktor Postol (31-2, 12ko).
This fight will kick off the new year on February 1st at the Mission Hills Haikou in China.
However, during a fighthype interview, the California based champion was asked about legendary promoter Bob Arum throwing his name in the pot for a possible fight with a fellow stablemate and WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford.
“When it happens it will be a good fight. I’ll be more than ready, but right now we have a couple more fights to go in Junior welterweight division.”
“I hope to do my best to unify the division and be the best at 140lbs and move up to 147lbs.”
“I’ll be honored to face Terence Crawford.”
I know what you are saying. “Why is this being mentioned right now? Has Top Rank pushed the panic button in scrambling to find viable opposition for Crawford?”
UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES
Arum recently revealed details of a conversation that took place several months ago, with Premier Boxing Champions shot caller Al Haymon. The topic of discussion was making a mega-fight with unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.
According to the legendary promoter, Haymon told him “they would definitely make the fight in 2020.” This would have been great news for the entire boxing community. This was a fight boxing fans were heavily in anticipation.
However, when news broke in October of the unified champion’s horrific car accident, everything had been put on the back-burner for now.
This explains the reason for throwing out the bait to see who bites by mentioning Ramirez’ name. It’s also worth noticing that although Postol is the WBC mandatory challenger, trust and believe the unified champion’s performance will draw the comparison to when Crawford defeated the Ukrainian fighter back in 2016.
BLEAK OPTIONS
Another reason for this possibly being a viable option is when looking at the herd within the WBO ranking system, it’s pack with good opponents.
The WBO champion is already scheduled to fight top-ranked contender Egidijus Kavaliauskas December 14.
Upon Crawford being successful, a further examination concerning the likelihood of being able to fight some of the other top names in the division is exceptionally grim.
Former world champions Jessie Vargas, Danny Garcia, and Sergey Lipnets are ranked two, three and four respectively. Both Garcia and Lipinets fight under the PBC banner and with Spence sidelined, don’t be looking for any movement on that front.
The #5 ranked fighter is Golden Boy Promoted WBA ‘Gold’ titlist Vergil Ortiz Jr. It’s unlikely that fight can get made as the young titlist is far too green.
Vargas fighting under DAZN is a more feasible fight, plus it would make for a good back story. He used to fight under the Top Rank banner so there is a revenge factor that can be played upon when building the fight.
In a perfect world, the focus of the discussion would be a fight to crown an undisputed junior welterweight champion. However, boxing doesn’t always follow the script and sometimes adjustments have to be made.
By: Garrisson Bland
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