Making the junior middleweight limit wasn’t the issue for
Jesus Ramos.
“It was just a matter of opportunity,” Ramos told
The Ring. “We wanted a belt. We were promised from the [Jeison] Rosario fight that we were gonna look for a title fight. And it’s just too much talent right now at 154. There’s a lotta talent and everybody wants to be a champion. There’s not a lot of fights being made where it’s champion versus champion or prospect versus prospect. It’s just too much talent. I feel like if I get a belt, we’ll be able to make something happen.”
Ramos (23-1, 19 KOs) stopped Rosario (24-5-2, 18 KOs) in the eighth round February 1 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. His victory over Rosario, a former unified junior middleweight champ, marked Ramos’ only action as a full-fledged middleweight.
“I don’t think it would’ve even been a good fight, against a big name,” Ramos said. “I was high-risk, no-reward for a lotta guys. And that’s why I wasn’t getting some of the fights that I wanted. So essentially, that was the reason behind [accepting the Mosley fight]. It wouldn’t have done no good for my career if I would’ve took another fight like Schramm. No disrespect to him or anything, but it’s just not the type of fight I’m looking for. I want a big fight.”
Beating
Mosley (22-4, 12 KOs), of Pomona, California, could lead to challenging WBC middleweight champ
Carlos Adames (24-1-1, 18 KOs). Ramos,
The Ring’s ninth-ranked junior middleweight, believes that fight would be relatively easy to put together because he and the Dominican Republic’s Adames are aligned with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
Ramos is also open to dropping back down to junior middleweight, especially if it meant facing the Fundora-Thurman winner.
Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs), of Coachella, California, will defend his WBC crown against Thurman (31-1, 19 KOs, 1 NC), of Clearwater, Florida, in their PBC pay-per-view main event.
“I think what made this fight the right fight was the WBC interim championship that’s on the line,” Ramos said. “I really want a belt. I need a belt just to make these fights happen. Sometimes it opens a lotta doors, having a belt. … It was hard to get fights at 154. Things were tied up.
“The goal was to fight for that 154-pound WBA title, and they ended up doing
[Yoenis] Tellez against [Abass Baraou]. So, we were just kinda stuck on the sidelines, waiting for something to happen. When they gave us this opportunity, we jumped on it. It’s a great opportunity.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing