Real or Not: Jose Ramirez-Josh Taylor Winner to Face Terence Crawford

In a real fight with real stakes, Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor will unify the top four belts in the junior welterweight division this Saturday, May 22 on ESPN Deportes (8:30 p.m. ET, also on ESPN and ESPN+), and the rumor is that the winner will drop the belts and move up to the welterweight division to seek bigger challenges.

That bigger challenge could have a first and last name: WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford. And a bout between the Ramirez/Taylor winner and Crawford, who many consider the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, could be a mega fight in the making.

That also opens a door for undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez Jr. to move up to junior welterweight with an eye on gold at 140, that is, provided he defeats mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr. on June 19.

Nick Parkinson and Ben Baby share their thoughts on the matter.

Real or not: The Jose Ramirez-Josh Taylor winner will move up to 147 to face Terence Crawford.
Parkinson: Real. After unifying the belts in the biggest fight of their careers, the only option will be for the winner of the May 22 clash in Las Vegas to move up in weight and seek bigger challenges. Ramirez and Taylor’s options at junior welterweight are limited after their showdown to crown an undisputed champion. Between them, they defeated the next three contenders in ESPN’s latest divisional rankings – Regis Prograis, Jose Zepeda and Viktor Postol. Taylor defeated Prograis and Ramirez defeated Zepeda (both by majority decisions) and fights against either would hold little interest and pose a huge risk.

Both Ramirez and Taylor beat Postol, and rematches against the 37-year-old fighter would not be met with widespread enthusiasm. Furthermore, most of the top lightweight fighters who have the potential to move up are likely to stay there for the time being, as there are plenty of important fights to be had at 135 pounds.

Moving up a weight class offers a new challenge of becoming a two-weight world champion, and perhaps more importantly, a much bigger fight at 147 pounds than they could do at 140 pounds, against Crawford who, like Ramirez and Taylor, is promoted by Top Rank.

If Crawford loses patience for getting a unification fight with Errol Spence Jr, or a proposed title fight against Manny Pacquiao fails to materialize, then facing the Ramirez-Taylor winner comes into play and is an easy fight to make. The opportunity to beat Crawford, who started his career at lightweight and is five centimeters shorter than Ramirez and Taylor, would be attractive, as a win would elevate either Ramirez or Taylor on the pound-for-pound charts and boost his bank balance in a big way.

Real or not: Teofimo Lopez will vacate his 135-pound championship and fight for the 140-pound title after his fight with George Kambosos Jr.