Jose Ramirez’s high financial requirements were the key obstacle to a proposed fight with British welterweight Conor Benn, according to the former 140-pound champion.
Ramirez, who held two junior welterweight titles before losing them to Scotland’s Josh Taylor last year, said he had initial discussions with Benn’s promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, about fighting Benn in the summer, but once When the subject of bags came up, the talks quickly ended. Ramirez, of Avenal, Calif., said Heard was “shocked” to find out what Ramirez’s reference fight purses are with his promoter Top Rank.
“We were thinking of doing [the fight] at 140 or 147 or a catchweight just to see me move up to that 147-pound division,” Ramirez told Pro Boxing Fans. “But it was a quick chat with Eddie Hearn. He said at the time that Conor Benn wasn’t earning what we thought he was earning financially. Eddie Hearn, regarding the fact that…my Top Rank minimums are so high…he was shocked to find out how much I made with my Top Rank minimums.”
A Ramirez-Benn fight would have required Hearn to pay Ramirez a hefty fee, as Ramirez fights exclusively on ESPN, the network that has an exclusive boxing content deal with Top Rank. While Hearn, a Top Rank rival, was unable to consummate a deal, he has been successful in a similar scenario in the past. In 2019, Ramirez fought Hearn and then Maurice Hooker in a 140-pound title unification fight on a Matchroom card that aired on DAZN, the streaming platform Hearn has an extensive partnership with. Hearn/DAZN reportedly paid Ramirez more than $4 million for the opportunity.
For his part, Ramirez said he’s still open to the idea of fighting Benn, but it wouldn’t be for another two years. The long-time 140-pound contender hopes to stay in his weight class, citing the alluring competition pool, which includes Taylor, Regis Prograis, Jose Zepeda and Teofimo Lopez.
Benn is currently scheduled to fight middleweight Chris Eubank Jr. in a 157-pound catchweight bout on October 8 at The O2 in London.
“It’s a fight that we’ll probably do in the future, you know,” Ramirez said. “Conor Benn has made a name for himself now. Now you hear more and more about him. He is doing his thing in the UK. It was just a quick chat that came to me. Once we got to the numbers, after the first talk and the numbers came through, it just didn’t work out for either of us.
“I think in the near future, maybe two years, when he’s ready to make that jump to 147, it’s going to be a great fight.”
