Jose Ramirez vs Viktor Postol fight headed to China on Feb. 1

Unified junior welterweight titleholder Jose Ramirez and Viktor Postol agreed to terms recently, with Postol being Ramirez’s WBC mandatory, and now the fight looks like it’s headed for China. ESPN reports that the deal is done for Feb. 1 in Haikou, China.

Ramirez (25-0, 17 KO) won the WBC 140-pound title in March 2018, beating Amir Imam, and unified on July 27 of this year with a sixth round stoppage over Maurice Hooker, giving Ramirez the WBO title for his collection.

Ramirez-Postol was originally targeted for Nov. 30, but Ramirez underwent a hand surgery and the date was postponed. The 27-year-old Ramirez has a fine claim to being the top 140-pounder in the sport today, even with Josh Taylor holding the IBF and WBA titles.

Postol (31-2, 12 KO) is sort of the “best of the rest” after the division’s obvious top three of Taylor, Ramirez, and Regis Prograis. The 35-year-old Ukrainian is a former titleholder and still a solid contender, but losses to Terence Crawford in 2016 and Josh Taylor in 2018 have shown him to be that notch below the true top tier. He’s won two straight, beating Siar Ozgul about a year ago, and Mohamed Mimoune in a WBC eliminator on April 27.

The winner of Ramirez-Postol will have to deal with WBO mandatory Jack Catterall. The show in China could also feature a return for Jamel Herring, if he retains his WBO super featherweight title against Lamont Roach Jr, and is expected to have a second world title fight either way.