José Ramírez vs. Josh Taylor

José Ramírez vs. Josh Taylor, billed as Undisputed, was a unification professional boxing match contested between WBC and WBO champion, José Ramírez, and WBA (Super), IBF, and The Ring champion, Josh Taylor. The bout took place on May 22, 2021, at the Virgin Hotels in Paradise, Nevada. Taylor defeated Ramirez via unanimous decision to become the undisputed light welterweight champion.

Undisputed

Date	May 22, 2021
Venue	Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring light welterweight titles
Tale of the tape
Boxer José Ramírez Josh Taylor Nickname JCR The Tartan Tornado Hometown Avenal, California, U.S. Prestonpans, Scotland Pre-fight record 26–0 (17 KO) 17–0 (13 KO) Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) Weight 139+3⁄5 lb (63 kg) 139+3⁄5 lb (63 kg) Style Orthodox Southpaw Recognition WBC and WBO light welterweight champion WBA (Super), IBF, and The Ring light welterweight champion The Ring No. 9 ranked pound-for-pound fighter
Result
Taylor won via 12–round unanimous decision

Background

Ramírez became a unified light welterweight champion after defeating Maurice Hooker via technical knockout (TKO) in July 2019, retaining his WBC title (held since 2018) and capturing Hooker's WBO version.^[1] Less than 48 hours after successfully defending his titles against the WBC's mandatory challenger, Viktor Postol, via majority decision (MD) in August 2020,^[2] Ramírez was ordered to face the WBO's mandatory challenger, Jack Catterall.^[3]

Taylor captured his unified titles in 2019 as part of the World Boxing Super Series tournament, defeating IBF champion Ivan Baranchyk via unanimous decision (UD) in May^[4] and WBA (Super) champion Regis Prograis via MD in October, winning the vacant Ring title in the process.^[5] After nearly a year out of the ring, Taylor successfully retained his titles against the IBF's mandatory challenger, Apinun Khongsong of Thailand, via first-round knockout (KO) in September 2020, leaving Ramírez' mandatory defence against Catterall as the final obstacle to an undisputed fight.^[6]

In October, it was announced that Catterall had agreed to a "step-aside deal", with the promise of a chance to fight the winner of a proposed Ramírez vs. Taylor fight.^[1] At the beginning of March 2021, the fight was officially announced for May 22.^[7]

The fight

Ramírez was the more active of the two in rounds one to four, landing 25 out of 75 punches compared to Taylor's 11 out of 45. In the sixth, a round which saw Taylor suffer a small cut to the corner of his left eye, the Scotsman landed a short left-hand counter on Ramírez' jaw, knocking the American to the canvas. He made it back to his feet by the referee's count of two to see out the remainder of the round. Taylor scored a second knockdown in the final 30 seconds of the seventh round after landing a left uppercut, leaving Ramírez visibly hurt. He again made it to his feet, albeit slower than the first time, with 10 seconds left in the round. The next five rounds were closely contested, with both men finding success. All three judges scored the bout in favour of Taylor with 114–112, giving the Scotsman a unanimous decision victory to become Scotland's second ever undisputed champion after Ken Buchanan.^[8][9] According to CompuBox statistics, Taylor landed 145 out of 530 (27%) punches compared to Ramírez' 134 out of 584 (23%).^[10]

Fight card

Weight Class		vs.		Method	Round	Time	Notes
Light welterweight	Josh Taylor (c)	def.	José Ramírez (c)	UD	12		Note 1
Light welterweight	Jose Zepeda (c)	def.	Hank Lundy	UD	10		Note 2
Light welterweight	Kenneth Sims Jr	def.	Elvis Rodriguez	MD	8		Note 3

^Note 1 For WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring light welterweight titles
^Note 2 For WBC Silver light welterweight title
^Note 3 For vacant WBC–USNBC light welterweight title

Media coverage

Country	Broadcaster
	Free-to-air	Cable	Pay-per-view	Streaming
United States (host)	—	ESPN	—	ESPN+
United KingdomSCO	—		FITE TV
Worldwide	—	Fight Sports
Indonesia	tvOne[11]		—
MENA	—			Fight Sports MAX

SCO - as the away boxer from Scotland

References

1. Salazar, Francisco (July 27, 2019). "Jose Ramirez stops Maurice Hooker in six thrilling rounds, unifies 140-pound belts". The Ring. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
2. Rafael, Dan (August 29, 2020). "Jose Ramirez ekes past Viktor Postol, retains unified junior welterweight title by majority decision". The Ring. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
3. Kim, Steve (August 31, 2020). "WBO orders Ramirez to negotiate with Catterall". ESPN. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
4. English, Tom (May 18, 2019). "Scot Taylor secures first world title". BBC Sport. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
5. Murray, Kier (October 26, 2019). "Taylor becomes unified champion". BBC Sport. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
6. Bunce, Steve (September 27, 2020). "Josh Taylor blitzes Apinun Khongsong in 161 seconds". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 17, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
7. Idec, Keith (March 2, 2021). "Jose Ramirez-Josh Taylor Unification Fight Officially Announced, May 22". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
8. Santoliquito, Joseph (May 22, 2021). "Josh Taylor makes history as the first Scot to become undisputed junior welterweight champion". The Ring. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
9. Idec, Keith (May 22, 2021). "Josh Taylor Drops Jose Ramirez Twice, Wins Decision To Unify 140". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
10. "Josh Taylor vs. Jose Ramirez - CompuBox Punch Stats - Boxing News". www.boxingscene.com. May 23, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
11. tvOne. "Juara Sejati, Perebutan gelar juara dunia kelas ringan Super WBC, WBA, IBF & WBO, Jose Carlos Ramirez vs Josh Taylor Saksikan Live World Boxing Minggu, 23 Mei 2021 jam 07.30 WIB hanya di tvOne". Twitter (in Indonesian). Retrieved May 22, 2021.