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Jose Ramirez should consider himself lucky he’s still officially undefeated.
That’s Josh Taylor’s takeaway from Ramirez’s last fight against a southpaw. Taylor thinks Jose Zepeda won eight rounds against Ramirez in a 12-round, 140-pound title fight Ramirez won by majority decision in February 2019.
Judges Chris Tellez (116-112) and Glenn Trowbridge (115-113) scored their fight Ramirez. Judge Rey Danesco scored their fight for Ramirez’s WBC championship a draw, 114-114.
Ramirez-Zepeda took place at Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, Ramirez’s proverbial backyard.
Though Taylor feels Ramirez lost that bout, he hasn’t read too much into Ramirez’s performance versus Zepeda as he has prepared for their 140-pound title unification fight Saturday night at The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. If Zepeda (33-2, 26 KOs, 2 NC), of La Puente, California, defeats Philadelphia’s Hank Lundy (31-8-1, 14 KOs) on the Ramirez-Taylor undercard, he’ll remain in position to fight the winner of the main event because he is the WBC’s number one contender for Ramirez’s championship.
“I thought that Ramirez was very, very fortunate to come away with that decision,” Taylor said when asked about the Ramirez-Zepeda fight Tuesday on a conference call. “I actually scored it eight rounds to four for Zepeda when I watched it. But, you know, it is what it is. You know, it’s past. He got the result that he was looking for, and, you know, the past is the past. I’m not really too interested in what he’s done before. It’s all about Saturday, and things that I’ve seen and holes within his game and things like that, that I think I can exploit on Saturday. So, I’m not too fussed about dwelling on past fights.”
The left-handed Taylor (17-0, 13 KOs) doesn’t just think Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs) is vulnerable against southpaws. The Scotsman suspects Ramirez’s defensive flaws are exploitable from whichever side an opponent approaches him.
“I think he’s vulnerable full stop,” Taylor said. “I think he’s gonna be quite easy to find. I don’t think I’m gonna have to go looking for him to hit him. That’s for sure. I know his style is to come forward. So, it’s got the makings to be an absolute barnburner fight, you know, because he comes to fight and I come to fight. So, it’s gonna be a good fight for sure.”
ESPN will televise Ramirez-Taylor as the main event of a tripleheader scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. EDT. Before Zepeda and Lundy meet in the co-feature, the telecast will start with an eight-round bout between Dominican junior welterweight prospect Elvis Rodriguez (11-0-1, 10 KOs) and Chicago’s Kenneth Sims Jr. (15-2-1, 5 KOs).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.