Bob Arum claims that Josh Taylor will not fight Jose Ramirez until next year.
Taylor faces Apinun Khongsong on Saturday night for Taylor’s WBA and IBF light-welterweight belts, and Arum believes it will not be possible to arrange a Taylor-Ramirez event before the end of 2020 should Taylor retain his titles.
Ramirez’s promoter and Taylor’s co-promoter explained that fewer boxing matches are needed for broadcasters now that college football is set for an autumn return. That has led to Top Rank deciding to space out future fights.
Arum also told Boxing Scene that Ramirez vs. Taylor should go ahead with fans, though he was open to it being hosted in the US or UK.
“The way we’re looking at it, there are other fights that would take precedence this year,” Arum explained.
“And for that fight, we would really need a robust audience to make it work, whether it was here, or over in Scotland or London. We need an audience. We just can’t do that fight without an audience.”
One possible venue for the fight is the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California where Ramirez has routinely filled up seats for his fights. Scottish boxer Taylor has brought spectators in numbers to the SSE Hydro in Glasgow for previous fights.
Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs) recently defeated Viktor Postol (31-3, 12 KOs) in August in order to set up his bout with Taylor (16-0, 12 KO).
Ramirez’s WBC and WBO belts will also be on the line, setting up a potential unification event.