Jose Ramirez-Viktor Postol “penciled in” for February 1st

Unified super lightweight champion Jose Ramirez’s WBC-mandated defense against Viktor Postol, originally planned for November 30th in Las Vegas but delayed after Ramimrez underwent hand surgery, is reportedly “penciled in” for February 1st at a location to be determined, though the deal is “not finalized yet.”

Postol’s other mandatory challenger, WBO #1 Jack Catterall, will stay busy with a November 22nd bout against former European champ Timo Schwarzkopf.

As we’ve said before, this is a solid first unified defense for Ramirez (25-0, 17 KO), a come-forward bruiser going up against one of the division’s better technicians in Postol (31-2, 12 KO). “Iceman” punched his ticket to the big time by stopping a similar breed of wrecking machine in Lucas Matthysse, and though he’s past his best, he gave one of the division’s heirs apparent in Josh Taylor his toughest fight to date last year. Ramirez is red-hot, though, and turned in his best performance yet in stopping Maurice Hooker for the WBO belt in July.

With this and the WBSS finals out of the way, we’ll be just one fight away from full unification.