Jose Ramirez & The Armchair Cornermen
By William Trillo
Most of us have heard the term “Armchair Quarterback” before. Basically, it’s a term meant for someone who doesn’t participate in an action but still makes judgments about it. That is what I was thinking about as I sat in on the Zoom post fight press conference Saturday night. I was thinking it even more as I read a few Ramirez vs. Postol fight reports on Sunday morning.
Call me crazy but I think what Ramirez did on Saturday night was pretty darn impressive. Am I saying it was a hall of fame performance? Absolutely not! Am I saying that Ramirez did what champions do and that is to find a way to win no matter the circumstances? Heck yeah! That is exactly what I am saying.
I am normally not one to direct anyone to my reports, but go ahead and take a peek at my Ramirez vs. Postol fight report that I wrote prior to the post fight press conference. You won’t find me second guessing what Ramirez was or wasn’t doing and you surely won’t see me already speculating that coming off this performance he cannot beat Josh Taylor.
Look, Viktor Postol is about a difficult opponent as there is out there. Trying to look impressive against him, even in victory, is next to impossible to do.
Don’t believe me? Go ask Josh Taylor or Terrance Crawford about that. If that’s not enough talk to Lucas Matthysse. The Postol fight was the beginning of the end for “La Maquina”.
But given the task at hand and taking into consideration the multitude of setbacks this fight had to overcome before becoming a reality, I give both men a lot of credit for performing as well as they did. Asking questions to an exhausted Champion Ramirez like, “Why couldn’t you this…” or “Why didn’t you that…”, seemed extremely shortsighted at best. Questioning whether or not he can beat Josh Tylor now is pretty much a slap in the face to Ramirez. We have all seen him when he is on his game. Of course he can beat Taylor.
Bob Arum himself stated after the fight, “It was a good fight, but both men were impacted by going through three training camps and the whole situation with COVID 19.”
With no fans in the house to cheer him on, a staple for Ramirez cards, the champion found a way to retain his titles even though the circumstances where far from ideal. I personally think that is the story here. It’s not about what he didn’t do, what he couldn’t do or what he won’t be able to do in the future.
It’s about what he did. And that was retain his title and set up an opportunity for himself to become the first Mexican fighter to become undisputed champion of the world.
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