Taylor drops Ramirez twice, goes 12 rounds to become undisputed junior welterweight championship

Josh Taylor had just been announced as the unanimous decision winner of his undisputed junior welterweight world championship fight against Jose Ramirez on Saturday night when he was hoisted onto the shoulders of one of his cornermen.

Overjoyed, Taylor flexed his arms, pounded his chest and shouted to nobody in particular, “Who’s the man?! Who’s the man?!”

The answer to that question is now an easy one. Taylor is the man. He is the king of the hill at 140 pounds, the best fighter on the planet in the division.

Taylor proved it by scoring two clean knockdowns against Ramirez and winning 114-112 all three scorecards from judges Steve Weisfeld, Dave Moretti and Tim Cheatham in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas before a capacity-limited crowd of about 1,000. Without knockdowns in the sixth and seventh rounds the fight would have been a draw. While its closer than most would agree with, I too (Ramses Sepulveda) scored the fight 114-112.

With the victory, Taylor retained his IBF and WBA titles and took the WBC and WBO belts from Ramirez to give him a clean sweep of the major belts in the weight class. He also became the lineal champion as he etched his name in boxing history.

“I thought it was a great performance,” Taylor said. “I thought the scorecards were a little tight. I thought they were well wider than that. I wasn’t too happy with the selection of the judges, but I wasn’t going to moan because I was confident in winning this fight anyway.”

Taylor joined countryman and International Boxing Hall of Famer Ken Buchanan as only the second undisputed champion from Scotland — 50 years after Buchanan accomplished it in the two-belt era in 1971.

Taylor also become just the fifth male fighter of the four-belt era to be an undisputed world champion, joining a club that also includes cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk (2018), junior welterweight Terrence Crawford (2017) and middleweights Jermain Taylor (2005) and Bernard Hopkins (2004).

“I’m ecstatic. I’ve trained my whole life for this,” Taylor said. “I’ve dedicated my whole life for this moment. I’ve dreamt of it so many times over, man. I’m so, so happy. I’m over the moon, man. I’ve trained for this moment all my life.”

Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs), a 30-year-old southpaw, who made his third title defense, also paid tribute Buchanan, a beloved figure in their country.

“I’m just like you, champ! I did it just like you! I’ll see you when I get home,” Taylor said. “Much love. He’s a legend. You gave me so much inspiration to do it, and I’m just like you. I’ll see you soon, champ!”

Taylor and Ramirez fought an entertaining fight at a fast pace and it was very competitive all the way other than the knockdowns. Ramirez went after Taylor to the body often and Taylor displayed a quick, snappy jab, a potent uppercut and good movement.

After the fifth round the very aggressive Ramirez led 48-47 on two scorecards and trailed by the same score on the third card, but then Taylor, who suffered a small cut by his left eye in the fifth, broke through in the sixth round.

In the opening seconds of the frame, he connected with a counter left hand to Ramirez’s chin and dropped him to his knees.

Ramirez did not appear too hurt and rallied later in the round by backing Taylor up and landing a hard right hand.

When they were in close in the seventh round, Taylor, who had superior hand speed, landed a sharp left uppercut that put Ramirez, who had dropped his hands, on his back.

“He took advantage of some of those clinches but, hey, I got back up and tried to give it my best and stay smart,” Ramirez said. “I was never hurt. I was aware. I was just disappointed every time it happened. I tried to shake it off and get back to my rhythm. But it was overall a good fight. Hopefully, I get back and I learn from my mistakes.”

Asked what Taylor’s key to winning was, trainer Ben Davison said, “The key to success was discipline. They know Josh loves a fight but we knew that there were fundamental errors that Jose Ramirez makes and it was so important for Josh to capitalize on those errors and fortunately he was able to do so tonight.”

With Taylor seemingly in control after the knockdowns, Robert Garcia, Ramirez’s trainer, realized the fight was getting away from them. After the ninth round, he forcefully told Ramirez that he needed to win the coming rounds and shouted at him to do it for his family and his Mexican people.

Ramirez (26-1, 17 KOs), 28, of Avenal, California, who was making his fifth title defense, responded and won the 10th, 11th and 12th rounds on seven of the nine cards turned in but it still left him trailing because of the knockdowns.

According to CompuBox statistics, Taylor landed 145 of 530 punches (27 percent) and Ramirez landed 134 of 584 (23 percent). They landed within five punches of each other in 10 of the 12 rounds.

“What a sensational fight,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “Both men should be applauded, and a hearty congratulations to the new undisputed champion, Josh Taylor. The future is bright for both warriors.”

The end of the fight brought amends for what had been a chippy fight week between two fighters who had otherwise been extremely respectful of each other. But bad feeling mounted after a trash-talk filled staredown at the weigh-in on Friday and then when their teams crossed paths near an elevator bank in the hotel soon after, Taylor rushed toward Ramirez and shoved him, inciting an ugly scene.

“I’ve got nothing but love for Ramirez. This week was no disrespect. It was all part of the mind games to get in his head, to make him more eager to jump in at me and be more aggressive, to use his aggression against him and that’s what we did,” Taylor said. “I’ve got nothing but love and respect for Ramirez. I think he was a great champion and a great ambassador for the sport. I wish him all the best in the future.”

They spoke about it in the ring after the fight.

“He accepted my apology for the way I was acting and we’re all good,” Taylor said. “He wished me all the best. He’s a really good person.”

Said Ramirez, “He pretty much apologized and said it was part of his game plan. I’m a man of faith and God teaches us to forgive and be good people. So, I forgave him. In the future I’d like to fight him again for sure.”

There were no sour grapes from Team Ramirez following the fight even though the disappointment was clear on their faces and in their voices.

“Josh Taylor got the win and he’s the undisputed champion and we congratulate him,” Garcia said. “You don’t see that often. He earned it. He made history. We win some and you can’t win ‘em all.”

Ramirez, whose voice cracked with emotion, added, “Overall, it was a good fight. We’ll see where I go. I want to get back home and once I get my time off I’ll talk to Robert. I’m blessed. A little disappointed because I really wanted to win. It’s a disappointment of a competitor not of a sore loser. I’m disappointed that I lost but not disappointed that I made it this far.”

Ramirez figures to remain firmly in the title picture but Taylor is now in command. He’ll have mandatory defenses to deal with but he could also look to move up to the welterweight division, where world titleholder and Top Rank stablemate Terence Crawford is desperate for a quality opponent.

Taylor wasn’t about to make any decisions. He wanted to enjoy his moment.

“We’ll take it as it comes,” Taylor said. “The options aren’t going to be short, but there’s a new warrior king on the map and he’s from Scotland. Let’s do it! Anybody who wants to fight, let’s go!”