Unless their junior-welterweight bout ends in a draw one of these fighters will be the first from either a British or a Mexican-American background to hold all four major titles at once
“It’s a great, great fight for boxing, a real pure fight,” Josh Taylor said as anticipation intensified before he faces José Ramírez in a compelling world title unification bout in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Unless the bout ends in a draw, one of the world champions will make history by becoming the first fighter from either a British or a Mexican-American background to hold all four major titles at the same time. Even more powerfully, the winner of their junior-welterweight contest will join a select group of undisputed world champions.
The fragmentation of boxing escalated in 1988 when a fourth governing body, the WBO, came into existence alongside the more established WBA, WBC and IBF organisations. Since then it has usually been impossible to establish the identity of the real world champion in each weight category. But either Ramírez or Taylor will join Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor, Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk as men who can make the distinctive claim of being undisputed world champions in the four-belt era.
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