How Jose Ramirez became the underdog against Josh Taylor

Super lightweight champions Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez fight on Saturday, May 22, for undisputed status. Here’s why Ramirez is the underdog. 

Super lightweight boxing champions Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor fight on Saturday, May 22, for all the belts. Both are undefeated and have impressive records, but Ramirez is the betting underdog, and there’s a reason.

Actually, there are several reasons.

Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs) might have a better record and attributes than Taylor on paper. He’s about the same size as Taylor, has 9 more wins, and is two years younger at 28. Ramirez has three more years of professional experience than Taylor and has boxed 36 more professional rounds than Taylor.

Going by those numbers, the WBO and WBC champion has a good argument to be the favorite against Taylor, but that’s not the case according to oddsmakers and many boxing pundits.

According to Wynnbet.com, Ramirez is the betting underdog at +175 odds. The split between Ramirez and Taylor is small but significant.

Ramirez doesn’t understand why people are favoring Taylor over him.

“I’m not really sure,” Ramirez told FanSided ruing a recent media call. “I’ve never been a big fan of opinions, such as who’s the best out there, who’s the better fighter between one or the other. When you look back, it was more alive in the 60. Everybody faced each other. One would beat the other guy. They were all winning against each other.

“Sometimes, a style was more complicated than the other. In boxing, I feel like people have forgotten that. They don’t understand that in this sport, every fight, especially on this level, is going to be tough.”

Ramirez might have a point, but people have short memories. In the court of public opinion, you’re only as good as your last fight. Ramirez didn’t look fantastic in his last bout against Viktor Postol in August.

Jose Ramirez is the champion underdog against fellow champion Josh Taylor, but he thinks his style will win the day

Ramirez defeated Postol by majority decision. It took him a while to get going, and he looked flat. Postol lost a lopsided decision to Taylor in 2018. It’s unfair to predict the winner of Taylor vs. Ramirez based on a single shared opponent, but recent memory has Ramirez looking like the lesser boxer.

Taylor blew through unknown Apinun Khongsong in September, which should be ignored when handicapping this matchup. He defeated Regis Prograis in the fight before that, but it wasn’t easy. Prograis pushed Taylor, but Taylor won by majority decision.

Taylor has the added advantage of being a southpaw. The last southpaw Ramirez fought was Jose Zepeda back in February of 2019. Zepeda gave Ramirez problems, but Ramirez won by majority decision. Zepeda is a banger, as he displayed in his 2020 Fight of the Year against Ivan Baranchyk, but he’s not the refined boxer that Taylor is.

That’s anecdotal evidence to skew things in Taylor’s favor against Ramirez, but Taylor also has metrics on his side. Dan Canobbio of CompuBox recently pointed out on Twitter that Taylor has the highest percentage of power shots landed by any fighter in the division. He also stated that Ramirez gets hit more per round than any other super lightweight.

That’s a bad combination of stats for Ramirez.

Ramirez may be right that his style can overtake IBF and WBA champion Taylor, but that’s a subjective analysis. Much of handicapping a fight is subjective, but even some of the punch metrics favor Taylor.

Regardless, Ramirez is right that championship boxers close the gap in terms of talent, which is why Taylor vs. Ramirez is a must-see fight. Ramirez is the underdog for a reason, but he’s also not your typical underdog. Will the oddsmakers prove to be right, or will Ramirez’s logic? Watch the May 22nd fight at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN to find out.