Jose Ramirez Regains No. 2 Spot Following Recent Ranking Turmoil
Jose Ramirez is now the new No. 2 contender to both junior welterweight titles following his battering of Jose Pedraza last month.
On Sunday evening, the World Boxing Organization (WBO) announced Ramirez (27-1,17 KOs) as a new No.2 seed on its junior welterweight rankings after reviewing the plea of three active pugilists – former lineal and unified lightweight titlist Teofimo Lopez and previous mandatory challenger Jack Catterall had filed a petition to look into their case with WBO along with Ramirez.
And after a long-three-week review process, the WBO acknowledged Ramirez’s case and put him higher on the list ahead of Catterall and Lopez.
“Certainly, the win/loss status in the boxer’s career is a significant factor where fighters have similar, but subtle distinctions regarding their professional merits,” Samuel Viruet, chairman of the WBO Championship Committee stated in his rulings.
“Thus, Jose Ramirez win over [Jose] Pedraza, and Teofimo Lopez’ loss against George Kambosos, creates, therefore, a balance favoring Jose Ramirez higher ranking over Teofimo Lopez in the WBO World Jr. Welterweight Ratings.”
All this fuss was created after WBO’s most recent ranking update saw Lopez (16-1, 12KOs) climbing the No.2 spot in the junior welterweight rankings despite having never fought in the respective weight class. Lopez is coming off a loss against Australia’s George Kambosos Jr. (20-0, 10KOs) resulting in him letting go of his lineal/WBA/IBF/WBO lightweight titles to the latter.
Immediately following the loss, Lopez decided to move up in weight and start from scratch in the new weight class. The WBO honored the former titleholder with the No. 2 spot at the expense of Catterall and Ramirez who saw themselves sliding to third and fourth spots on the list.
Catterall (26-1, 13KOs) was quick to challenge this ruling through his attorney Jeffrey Benz but in the light of governing rules and regulations of WBO, the sanctioning body discarded his petition asserting his non-compliance and a fresh loss at the hands of Josh Taylor the reason for his demotion.
“Jack Catterall’s main contention is that he should retain his number one ranking position and, as such, be the mandatory challenger status at the WBO Jr. Welterweight World Ratings, based upon the result of the Taylor/Catterall scorecards; that the fight was controversial,” stated Viruet.
“The WBO Ranking Committee cannot agree with a reasoning as it contradicts the WBO governing rules and regulations. Additionally, Mr. Catterall has been non-compliant with the
WBO’s provision concerning the criteria imperative to maintain WBO rating,” added Viruet.
The WBO Ratings Criteria was fully satisfied by Ramirez which focuses on positive professional record with special emphasis on boxers’ recent activities; medals obtained in International and Olympic Tournaments and WBO regional titles previously held.
Ramirez’s recent win against Pedraza was crucial in deciding his fate.