“I’m ecstatic,” Josh Taylor said simply on Saturday night in Las Vegas as he wiped his face, which was creased with as much emotion as sweat, after he had made history by winning a thrilling fight against José Ramírez. Taylor had also just conquered his last remaining battle of the night by, with some difficulty, managing to drape all four world championship belts he and Ramírez had brought into the ring over his shoulders. For the 30-year-old Scot it was a deeply symbolic moment.
He had just become the first British fighter, and only the fifth man in the modern four-belt era of boxing, to be the undisputed world champion of his division after he added Ramírez’s WBC and WBO junior-welterweight titles to the WBA and IBF straps he already owned.
“I’ve dedicated my life to this moment,” Taylor said. “I’ve dreamt of it so many times. I’m so, so happy.”
A tense and absorbing contest, which an aggressive and strong Ramírez had edged for the first five rounds, was changed utterly by two knockdowns that showed Taylor’s clinical brilliance. Ramírez was not hurt badly by a left counter which put him down early in the sixth round. The Mexican-American was up at the count of two but it was a clear psychological boost for Taylor who, with blood trickling from a minor cut under his left eye, had fought patiently until then.
In the seventh round, the fighters stepped back from a clinch while the referee Kenny Bayless was slow to separate them. As Bayless stepped towards the fighters and slapped Taylor on the arm to complete the break, the Scot unleashed a short and brutal uppercut. Ramírez crumpled slowly but, when he hit the canvas, it was with a heavy thud. He was on his back, looking as vulnerable as a turtle flipped on its shell, as Bayless was again slow to start counting.
This @JoshTaylorBoxer uppercut in Round 7 was felt in the whole venue ... 🤯#RamirezTaylor | LIVE NOW on ESPN pic.twitter.com/wJVRzML7eF
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) May 23, 2021
But Ramírez is brave and determined. He hauled himself up to see out the round on wobbly legs. But his earlier fire had been dampened by the shuddering force of that uppercut.
Ramírez regained some of his old resolve but his punches were no longer as threatening as they had been at the outset of a high-level contest. Taylor coasted through the final two rounds, which Ramírez won, and the Scot was awarded the decision by a margin of 114-112 on all three scorecards. They had each won six rounds but the two knockdowns meant Taylor was rightly awarded both the sixth and seventh by a 10-8 score.
“I actually think the referee gave him too much time,” Taylor said of the decisive second knockdown. “That should have been fight over. He was very tough, hats off to Ramírez, but after I put him down the fight was on my terms.”
Ramírez agreed that the outcome was decided by those two rounds. “After the fifth I was thinking: ‘Man, I’m doing really well.’ But obviously his confidence grew after those knockdowns. That was my mistake. I had to try take control multiple times because of my lack of discipline in the clinching.”
Both men were undefeated before the fight and, while they respected each other in the ring, Taylor had been obnoxious on Friday when he taunted Ramírez and threatened to beat up his manager. He also tried to attack Ramírez after the weigh-in. Taylor apologised after the fight and claimed that his antics, which were so different to the humble behaviour of his rival, were premeditated.
“It was just part of the mind games to get inside his head to make him more eager to jump in on me, to use his aggression against him,” Taylor said. “It worked perfectly. But I have nothing but love and respect for Ramírez. He was a great champion and a great ambassador for the sport.”
Ramírez’s face was wreathed in disappointment but he remained gracious. “He showed respect,” he said of Taylor’s apology. “He showed it was him being a competitor throughout the week. He wanted to win so bad and get in my mind. But he did apologise because he found out my son was around. I’m thankful he did that because I told him on Friday it doesn’t matter how far he gets. If he acts like that he’s not really worth that much. But I’m glad I was able to see the real side of Josh Taylor after the fight.”
When asked to condemn the referee for failing to protect him against Taylor’s punching behind the head and on the break, Ramírez resisted. “Man, we’ve got to learn how to lose. It wasn’t my night tonight.”
The night belonged to Scotland’s undisputed king of the ring. Taylor might have to make a mandatory defence against Jack Catterall, another British fighter, before he turns his attention to bigger and more lucrative contests in America. “I’ve not boxed in my home city for a few years so now is the time to get that [Catterall] fight at Edinburgh Castle or Easter Road.”
After that sweet homecoming, Taylor plans to move up to welterweight where indisputably great fighters like Terence Crawford and Errol Spence operate. Crawford, like Taylor, is one of only five fighters to have unified all the belts in his division. “I would like to go up to 147 and chase big fights like Crawford,” Taylor said. “I am not going to call him out, he is a great fighter, but two undisputed champions going at it would be awesome.”
It is a sign of his renown in world boxing that he can now make such a legitimate claim. But, before he considers the far more dangerous and spiteful menace of Crawford, Taylor should enjoy the giddy heights he has just climbed as that rare beast in boxing – an undisputed world champion.
