Ramirez only has eyes for Taylor
JOSE RAMIREZ insists he is not interested in a mandatory defence against Jack Catterall and only has Josh Taylor in his sights.
Edinburgh-born Taylor, who holds the WBA and IBF super lightweight belts, and WBC and WBO champion Ramirez are both desperate for the chance to unify the division. However, Ramirez has to make two obligatory defences, one against
Viktor Postol and the other against England’s Catterall.
Catterall has already said he will not be willing to accept step-aside money and Ramirez, who is expected to come through both bouts, admits he will be disappointed if he has to wait even longer to enter the ring with Taylor.
He said: “I know Jack Catterall’s been making some statements that he’s not going to want to take no step-aside money. But I’m not interested in Jack Catterall. I’m not interested in facing him at all.
“If I have to, I’ll be happy to get that fight out of the way. But I want Taylor next.”
Ramirez admits he does not also want to be accused of running scared of Taylor by fighting Catterall.
He added: “The thing about that is if I make that decision [to fight Catterall] because there’s no other option, people will never understand that.
“I’ve already seen the history of people loving to gossip on things that ain’t true, and they eat it up. So, they’re going to probably think, ‘I thought Taylor was next? You’ve been saying that you want Taylor next.’
“I want to face Taylor. I know I can beat Taylor, and that’s it.”