Former 140 lb titleholder Jose Ramirez has signed with Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya announced officially on tonight’s DAZN broadcast.
Ramirez, 31, fought just once in both 2022 and 2023, but is still in what should be his prime years, and is still a contender in a division that Golden Boy clearly want to build up in-house.
Formerly promoted by Top Rank, Ramirez (28-1, 18 KO) beat Amir Imam for the vacant WBC title in early 2018, and added the WBO belt with a win over Maurice Hooker in mid-2019 on what was a Golden Boy show.
He lost both belts in an undisputed title clash against Josh Taylor in May 2021. Since then, he’s beaten Jose Pedraza in 2022 and Richard Commey in 2023.
Both of those were solid wins, but he has also notably turned down title opportunities, which in tonight’s interview he tried to frame as being the fault of Top Rank, the company that promoted his entire professional career until now after joining the paid ranks in late 2012, following the London Olympics, where he was part of the very talented but infamously medal-less Team USA men’s boxing team.
Ramirez will have opportunities at Golden Boy, if he wants them. He reportedly turned down a $2 million-plus offer to face Teofimo Lopez in February as part of a new, multi-fight deal with Top Rank, but this whole saga may not be over, and there is some suspicion that Lopez could be next to make the jump to Golden Boy, too.
If nothing else, Golden Boy really are making moves, having survived something of a dip over the last few years, and now apparently in a position to get the engines revving a bit once more.