WBA and IBF champion Josh Taylor will face WBC and WBO titleholder Jose Ramiez in Las Vegas in what is sure to be a slugfest and could create a superstar with the title on national television on ESPN.
The pair of undefeated dual champions will be facing their toughest test in each other, but both are battle-tested with Taylor's wins over former champions Regis Prograis, Viktor Postol, and Ivan Baranchyk and Ramirez's victories over former champions Maurice Hooker and Viktor Postol along with a win over top contender Jose Zepeda.
Taylor is a boxer-puncher type that will likely attempt to fend Ramirez's aggressive style off enough to score with his own punches, while Ramirez will try to march forward and work Taylor's body to make him vulnerable to Ramirez's usual late-round charge.
This is as close to a 50-50 fight as you'll find and I've been back and forth on whom to select to win.
Taylor's win over Prograis is the best win of the two, but Ramirez has found a way to pull out the close fights as he did against Zepeda and Postol and there is something to be said for knowing how to win.
Taylor is the more versatile of the two and he can win in different ways than Ramirez.
In the end, that might be enough to make the difference.
The co-feature will pit the number one contender in the WBC ratings in the 140-pound division, Jose Zepeda, against late replacement Hank Lundy.
Zepeda became the top contender in the WBC after winning the fight of the year for 2020, a fifth-round knockout of former IBF champion Ivan Baranchyk that saw each fighter hit the floor four times.
Zepeda lost a close majority decision to Jose Ramirez for his title in 2019, so he's a tough out for the winner of Taylor-Ramirez or anyone that he could face for a possible vacant title should the winner move to welterweight.
Lundy is a rugged veteran that once was a top fifteen fighter, but has lost a step since his time of contention in the early to middle part of the last decade.
At 37, Lundy will have to turn back the clock to upset Zepeda.
In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 66-64.
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