Scottish southpaw Josh ‘The Tartan Tornado’ Taylor 18-0 (13) knocked down Jose ‘Jaguar’ Ramirez 26-1 (17) twice to become the undisputed junior welterweight champion of the world at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night.
Taylor put up his WBA and IBF titles against Ramirez’s WBC and WBO belts.
After the obligatory feeling out round Ramirez started applying the pressure late in the second, banging to the body and getting his vaunted left hand working.
The 28-year-old Mexican-American kept the pressure up in the third, landing an uppercut that stung Taylor and getting the better of the exchanges on the inside in the fourth.
Ramirez remained in control in the fifth, cutting Taylor over the left eye. But early in the sixth Taylor turned the fight on its head, dropping Ramirez with a short left hand from his southpaw stance.
The seventh saw Ramirez take a more cautious approach as he attempted to shake off the cobwebs from the previous round, but just hen he seemed to be working his way back into the fight a left uppercut from Taylor late in the frame dropped him for the second time in the bout.
In the eighth Taylor patiently picked his shots as he looked to walk Ramirez into another big counter.
Ramirez got back into his groove in the ninth and edged the 10th with his activity late in the stanza. He repeated his performance in the 11th.
Taylor, 30, continued to coast in the 12th while Ramirez dug deep in an attempt to turn the fight around. In the end it was too little, too late and he couldn’t par back the deficit of the two knockdowns in the middle rounds.
When the dust settled all three judges scored the bout for Taylor by scores of 114-112.
“I’m ecstatic,” Taylor said after the fight. “I’ve trained my whole life for this. 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. I’ve trained for this moment all my life.
“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. I was confident in winning this fight anyway.
“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.”
Promoter Bob Arum added: “What a sensational fight. Both men should be applauded and a hearty congratulations to the new undisputed champion, Josh Taylor. The future is bright for both warriors.”
With the win Taylor cements his claim as one of the top 10 pound-for-pound boxers in the world.
