Andre Ward questions whether IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Josh Taylor (17-0, 13 KOs) can stay composed enough to box for 12 rounds without getting drawn into brawls by his aggressive opponent, WBC/WBO champ Jose Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs) this Saturday night at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Ward believes that Taylor, 30, tends to slug too much and can be drawn into wars that don’t serve him well. We saw that in Taylor’s fight against Regis Prograis in 2019.
Although Taylor won the fight by a 12 round majority decision, he ran out of gas after six rounds and could have lost.
The referee and inside doctor arguably could have stepped that fight after Taylor’s right eye swelled shut in the championship rounds. He was fortunate the fight wasn’t halted, as his eye looked gruesomely swollen.
Taylor’s lack of ring discipline hurt him. He frequently brawled when he could have won the fight rather easily by boxing almost cost him. If Taylor fights the same way against Ramirez on Saturday, he might get stopped.
Ramirez is more of a slugger than Prograis, and he’s capable of taking advantage of Taylor if he lets his temper get the best of him.
Taylor gets drawn into brawls
“Jose Ramirez should be Jose Ramirez,” said Andre Ward to ESPN. “When he fought Maurice Hooker, he came forward and was willing to take two to give two and that’s who he is.
“You don’t start changing yourself because an opponent says, ‘I see you, I’ve watched your film and I know what you’re going to do.’ The question is, can you stop it?
“Can you rise to the occasion when it’s for all the marbles and the lights are bright and you need to be great? Can Josh Taylor stop what he believes is coming from Jose Ramirez?
“I haven’t seen Josh Taylor box a complete 12 rounds and come out unscathed where he was disciplined the whole fight,” Ward continued.
“He too likes to fight. It’s almost like he can’t help but to be drawn into a fight to prove that he’s tough, to prove that he belongs, to prove that he can back a fighter up and fight inside.
“That’s very much in his head as well. Even though Josh Taylor on paper and even visually, he can do more things, you’ve got to give him that. Paper doesn’t win fights, and that’s why you fight the fight.
“But Josh Taylor has to prove that he can fight a whole 12 rounds boxing and not allow and not allow himself to be drawn into a brawl,” said Ward.
It’s obvious that Taylor is somewhat of a hothead inside the ring, and it’s too easy for his opponents to draw him into brawls.
Thus far, it hasn’t hurt Taylor because he’s had better offensive skills than his opponents. However, Taylor almost lost his fight against Regis Prograis in 2019.
That’s a fight that he would have lost if Prograis had made adjustments early on to fight outside.
Can Josh Taylor stick to a game plan?
“I think Josh Taylor needs to have a good dose of boxing, and he needs to box early, and I think he needs to fight Ramirez on his terms when he has the advantage inside,” said Ward.
“Ramirez is going to do one thing. It doesn’t mean he can’t do other things, but his bread & butter, we’re speaking about him today as a two-belt unified champion because he fights a certain way.
“He comes forward, he comes in shape and he can take a good shot and deliver a shot right back.
“So Josh Taylor can compete with Jose Ramirez inside with Jose Ramirez in spots, but that’s not fight that Taylor wants to fight for throughout the course of the fight.
“If he finds out that it’s not what he thinks it is, that it’s a lot tougher inside, that Ramirez is stronger than he thought, that it’s harder than he thought, Josh Taylor can always revert back to boxing.
But again, when you hit Josh Taylor flush, he has the urgency to try and get the shot back, and he’ll find himself in a scrap whether he wants to be or not.
“I know Ben Davison is going to try and Ben Davison is a great trainer and he’s trained guys at a high level.
“So he’s going to do part, and both guys have great trainers. Will Josh Taylor listen if he gets hurt, if he starts to get hit, if he starts to get down on points?
“Will he stick to the game plan of boxing or will he get drawn into a fight? My guess is he’s going to get drawn into a fight,” Ward said about Taylor.
Having seen most of Taylor’s 17 fights since he turned professional in 2015, I don’t think he can stick to a game plan to box Ramirez or anyone.
Taylor, 30, is too much of a temperamental sort, who wants to get into a brawl every time he gets nailed with a shot.
You can argue that Taylor’s personality is the same way. He’s quick to get into things, and that’s something that won’t change.
No matter what Ben Davison tells Taylor in his corner on Saturday to try and settle him down, he’s going to go to war if he gets tagged.
That’s one of the reasons why Taylor will never be a complete fighter. He lacks the mental discipline to stay composed after getting hit, and he’s too easily drawn into a war.
Thus far, Taylor has gotten away with having a fiery temper, but it’s going to hurt him eventually, possibly this Saturday.
As we saw in Taylor’s fight with Prograis, he lacks the stamina to fight aggressively. He’s more of a six to seven-round fighter at best, and it’s going to hurt him if he doesn’t pace himself on Saturday.
If Taylor gasses out against Ramirez, he’ll lose rounds, take a beating and potentially get beat.
Ramirez and Taylor are a different breed
“I think the mentality that we’re seeing from both Taylor and Ramirez is a dying breed,” Ward said. “There’s not a lot of undisputed championships, especially in this four-belt era.
“There’s a lot of belts to go around. It takes someone that is special, it takes a different individual to get with their team, their manager, and their promoter to say, ‘Look, let’s map this out so I can become an undisputed champion.’
“Both guys have done that respectively, and here we are come Saturday night. It’s a mentality.
“Of course, these guys want to get paid, that’s the first fight at the negotiating table, on the phone.
“You got to make sure that the contract is right and the money is right. It’s called prize fighting for a reason, but these guys care very much about legacy.
“There’s only been give undisputed champions in the four-belt era, and I believe this will be the sixth.
“They very much care about that. It’s the bragging rights, and it’s again, something that is not really prevalent today.
“They want to prove that they are the best, the best at the weight class at 140 lbs, and arguably one of the best ten fighters in the world if they come out on top,” said Ward.
The talent that Ramirez and Taylor have has allowed them to capture two world titles and puts them in a position to unify the division.
It would have been harder for Taylor and Ramirez to fight Gervonta Davis, Mario Barrios, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez to win their belts. You can argue that Taylor and Ramirez have had things easy in winning their titles.
Taylor’s world title wins:
- Regis Prograis – WBA
- Ivan Baranchyk – IBF
Ramirez’s world title victories:
- Maurice Hooker – WBO
- Amir Imam
Josh’s inactivity isn’t a problem
“When a fighter is inactive, ring rust is a real thing, but I think it’s overstated at times,” Ward said about Josh Taylor’s ring rust.
“If you’re a fighter who doesn’t stay in the gym if you’re a fighter who balloons up 15, 20, 25 pounds and you haven’t gotten a call and there’s not fight on the books.
“You’re not working your craft and fighting to keep the rust off, yes, you’re going to struggle, you’re going to look rusty and you’re not going to be at your best.
“I was fortunate to have a great team, and have the internal motivation and drive to stay in the gym. You’re not training at a training camp level intensity.
“You’re in the gym two, three, four times a week. You’re mindful of your weight, and you’re not allowing yourself to balloon up too high.
“So when you do get the call, no matter how long you’ve been off, you can pick up where you left off and you go to camp 60%, 55%, and you get the rest of it in training camp.
“You then find out you’re not as rusty as you thought you were going to be. That’s the key and Josh Taylor strikes me as that kind of fighter,” said Ward.
The problem that Taylor has is he hasn’t been in a real fight in over a year and a half since his narrow 12 round majority decision victory over Regis Prograis in October 2019
You can’t count Taylor’s win over his horribly over-matched IBF mandatory Apinun Khongsong last September as a true fight. Taylor blasted the hapless Khongsong out in one round.
Khongsong was some guy that the International Boxing Federation gave a high ranking based on wins over obscure fluff opposition in his native Thailand.
For example, Khongsong’s previous fight before challenging Taylor for his IBF title came against a fighter with a 9-11 record.
Taylor’s last true ring activity was against Prograis, and that was ages ago in 2019. With almost two years of inactivity, it’s got to have some negative effect on Taylor.
Even if Taylor has been working out and staying in shape during the last 18 months, that’s still not the same thing as fighting. In other words, it’s doubtful that we’re going to see the same version of Taylor that fought Prograis in 2019 on Saturday.
If anything, Taylor might be roughly 80% of what he was back then, and that might not be enough for him to beat Ramirez. If Taylor gasses out after six rounds as he did against Prograis, he’ll lose on Saturday.
