Josh Taylor defeats José Ramírez to win undisputed junior welterweight championship – as it happened (2024)

That’s all for tonight. Thanks as always for following along with us and be sure to check back later for Donald McRae’s full report.

“I’m ecstatic!” Taylor says. “I’ve trained my whole life for this moment. I’ve dedicated my whole life for this moment. I’ve dreamt of it so many times over. I’m so, so happy. I’ve over the moon, man. I’ve trained for this moment all my life. Mum, Dad, Finch, Danielle: I told you I would do it! I told you I would do it and we’ve done it!”

Taylor says the trash talk throughout fight week, which boiled over at Friday’s weigh-in, was all tied to the tactics for tonight’s fight.

“I’ve got nothing but love for Ramírez,” he says. “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 make him more aggressive, to use his aggression against him.”

He adds: “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.”

All three judges turned in scores of 114-112, same as the Guardian. Josh Taylor is your undisputed junior welterweight champion of the world!

Round 12

Taylor’s caution throughout the final round suggests he thinks he’s got the fight sewn up. Ramírez is landing some clean shots in the 12th after a slow first minute, but nothing that’s giving Taylor any trouble. Taylor has simply been throwing right hands to keep Ramírez at bay and play out the string. There’s the final bell and we’ll wait for the judges’ verdict.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Ramírez 10-9 Taylor (Ramírez 112-114 Taylor)

Round 11

Better work from Ramírez in the 11th, who buzzes Taylor with a check left hook on the inside during an exchange. Probably enough to win the round despite Taylor controlling much of the round.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Ramírez 10-9 Taylor (Ramírez 102-105 Taylor)

Round 10

Taylor in total command. Ramírez lands a couple of lefts early in the round but Taylor responds with a smart combination. Taylor doing what he wants in there, boxing and placing his shots beautifully. Ramírez lands a massive straight left that sends Taylor reeling backwards. A momentary lapse in concentration at the end of a brilliant round. But Taylor finds his footing and answers with a huge right hand just before the bell.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Ramírez 9-10 Taylor (Ramírez 92-96 Taylor)

Round 9

Another round for Taylor, even as he appeared to be conserving his energy a bit for the championship rounds. Ramírez looks like he’s in trouble. And now he appears to be in a position where he needs a knockout to win – something he’s never done after the sixth round in 26 previous fights as a professional.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Ramírez 9-10 Taylor (Ramírez 83-86 Taylor)

Round 8

Ramírez spends three minutes staying out of harm’s way and trying to get his legs back. Taylor continues to follow his game plan, only improving when fighting on the inside. His variety with the left hand is simply masterful; he’s scoring with it almost at will, upstairs and down. Gutsy performance by Ramírez but the knockdowns have taken a lot out of him.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Ramírez 9-10 Taylor (Ramírez 74-76 Taylor)

Ramírez still pressuring Taylor but perhaps not with the same intensity as before the knockdown. Meanwhile, Taylor is walking right in without feinting or moving his head too much, presenting Ramírez a convenient target. And all of a sudden Taylor drops Ramírez again! This time with an uppercut while coming out of a clinch! Ramírez beats the count but he’s badly hurt and on wobbly legs! Can he make it to the bell? He can! But this one could be over soon.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Ramírez 8-10 Taylor (Ramírez 65-66 Taylor)

Taylor drops Ramírez with a heat-seeking counter left hand in the opening seconds of the sixth! Only the third knockdown of the American’s career. Ramírez makes it to his feet and now it’s Ramírez coming back, forcing Taylor to hold. What a fight! The two-way action continues till the bell and it’s a much-needed 10-8 round for the Tartan Tornado with a knockdown against the run of play.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Ramírez 8-10 Taylor (Ramírez 57-56 Taylor)

Round 5

Taylor is cut over his left eye and a mouse has started to form around his right. Ramírez applying intelligent pressure, picking his spots rather than bum-rushing inside. A sharp lead right by Ramírez followed by a thudding body shot. Taylor very much in the fight though, staying committed to the body attack.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Ramírez 10-9 Taylor (Ramírez 49-46 Taylor)

Round 4

Taylor may be in trouble. Ramírez is landing that right hand to the body with alarming frequency and Taylor doesn’t seem able to get out of the way. Ramírez snaps Taylor’s head back with a jab and now Taylor has been warned again for pulling down Ramírez’s head, the third time Bayless has cautioned him tonight. And Taylor lands a very sharp body shot that may have Ramírez ... or not, because Ramírez comes back firing. Wow. Great fight! Taylor needs to figure out a way too get the jab going because these kinds of rounds will prove untenable.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Ramírez 10-9 Taylor (Ramírez 39-37 Taylor)

Round 3

Ramírez picks up right where he left off in the second, letting his hands go and finding Taylor with punches thrown from all angles. Taylor not throwing back immediately as he normally does and something may have hurt him. Ramírez is pouring it on! Right hand to the body followed by an overhand right lands for Ramírez. Taylor needs to stay off the ropes because he’s getting tenderized there. Easy round to score for the American, who landed 25 shots compared to Taylor’s 11, according to Compubox’s punch statistics.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Ramírez 10-9 Taylor (Ramírez 29-28 Taylor)

Round 2

Taylor picks up the pace very early in the second frame and Ramírez seems to be having trouble dealing with his speed out of his opponent’s awkward southpaw stance. Some very good body work from Ramírez, a douuble hook to the body followed by a right uppercut-left hook combination. Ramírez did well toward the end of the round, finding success when he turned it into a brawl, but not enough to take the round.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Ramírez 9-10 Taylor (Ramírez 19-19 Taylor)

Round 1

Both men take one another’s measure in the center of the ring. Taylor keeping things on the outside, using feints and establishing distance. Taylor lands a thudding left to Ramírez’s gut while coming inside but Ramírez answers with a left hook to the body. Then more body work from Ramírez, two really clean shots downstairs. Taylor is warned by referee Kenny Bayless for hitting during the clinch. Bayless is very quick to break up the fighters when they get tied up on the inside. Very close first round. Ramírez had the best sequence of the round when he landed a series of body shots along the ropes but Taylor was busier from bell to bell. Ramírez nicks it on our card, just.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Ramírez 10-9 Taylor (Ramírez 10-9 Taylor)

The fighters are making their entrances. As both men come into tonight’s fight two major titles apiece, they flipped a coin earlier in the week to decide the champions’ honors. In the end, Ramírez is entering the ring first but he will be announced second.

Both fighters are in the ring and we should be under way momentarily. We’ll pick it up with round-by-round coverage from here.

Jose Zepeda has won a unanimous decision over Hank Lundy by scores of 98-92 on all three cards. The junior welterweight contender did manage to get the result, but as an audition for a possible date against the winner of tonight’s main event, it was a bit of an uninspiring performance.

Up next: José Ramírez v Josh Taylor for the undisputed junior welterweight championship of the world.

Jose Zepeda and Hank Lundy have nearly reached the distance of their 10-round junior welterweight scrap. It’s the last prelim before the main event, meaning Ramírez and Taylor will likely be making their ringwalks around the top of the hour. A bit of a flat performance from Zepeda, who featured in 2020’s fight of the year against Ivan Baranchyk. Very possible that one took something out of him that he won’t be getting back.

As we count down to Ramírez-Taylor, here’s Donald McRae’s lookahead to what promises to be a historic night: Unless the bout ends in a draw, one of the world champions will become the first fighter from either a British or a Mexican-American background to hold all four major titles in a division at the same time.

Tyson Fury just crashed ESPN’s broadcast desk mid-telecast to break a bit of news. “I just signed the Deontay Wilder contract,” Fury confirmed. “Bitch, you’re getting knocked out! Knocked out!”

Sounds like Fury will be back after the co-main for a more formal sitdown and we’ll pass along the details as they come. But it’s looking like 24 July with a 60-40 purse split for the champion. It’s also been reported that Top Rank, which promotes Fury, have reserved that date for Allegiant Stadium, the $1.9bn, 72,000-seat home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders that opened last year near the Strip.

We’ve just witnessed a major upset on the undercard. Blue-chip junior welterweight prospect Elvis Rodriguez, widely touted as one of boxing’s rising stars, has just suffered his first professional defeat by majority decision to Kenneth Sims Jr. The judges’ scores were 78-74 (twice) and 76-76.

The heavy-handed Rodriguez, who went off as a minus-2500 favorite, was clearly outboxed over eight rounds in a fight the 27-year-old Sims badly needed to rejuvenate a once-promising career. Mission accomplished.

Hello and welcome to Las Vegas for tonight’s showdown between José Ramírez and Josh Taylor for the unified junior welterweight championship. This one needs no salesmanship, misdirection or promotional razzle-dazzle. We’ve got two undefeated fighters with crowd-friendly styles, in their primes, at their best weight, with all four major title belts on the line. Ramírez owns the WBC and WBO titles, while Taylor holds the WBA and IBF straps. At the end of the night, one of them will the undisputed champion at 140lbs. What more could you possibly ask for?

If you answered bad blood, well, there’s that, too! Shortly after both fighters made weight at yesterday’s weigh-in and performed the traditional staredown for the cameras, Taylor tracked down Ramírez off stage and shoved him near the elevator well, kicking off a fracas between the camps.

Lots more ahead from what promises to be a fascinating night.

Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Donald McRae’s sit-down with José Ramírez, the 2012 US Olympian who’s been described as the most politically active boxer since Muhammad Ali.