NEWS: JOSE RAMIREZ TURNS DOWN REGIS PROGRAIS, EYES RICHARD COMMEY

By: Jay Calderon

According to ESPN's Mike Coppinger, 140 pounder Jose Ramirez has rejected a title shot against newly-minted champion Regis Prograis.

Initiallty, Ramirez was set to face Jose Zepeda for the title currently possessed by Prograis. However, Ramirez elected to bypass the shot as he and his now wife were in the midst of planning their wedding earlier this year.

When Ramirez turned the shot down, Prograis stepped in and ultimately stopped Zepeda to capture the vacant gold in November. Ramirez was expected to receive the first shot at the title when the dust settled for Zepeda-Prograis, but Ramirez ultimately opted to head in another direction due to the purse split.

In a text message with Coppinger, Ramirez stated that the WBC-ordered split of 65/35 in favor or Prograis simply make taking the fight not worth it to the California native. 

"I'm disappointed in that split," Ramirez expressed. "This fight should definitely be a 50-50 [split] and I was OK on taking 10% less but I can't be fighting for free and risk too much of a pay cut. Boxing is a tough sport and we want to make sure we get valued.

"This is a huge fight [vs. Prograis] that is not being promoted properly. Hopefully we can make the fight happen in the future when we both get compensated as we should," said Ramirez.

Ramirez had previously stated he would take the fight, despite the wishes of his promotional company, if he were to receive 40% or more of the purse split. However, it appears he's unwilling to take any less.

Now, according to reports, Ramirez is in talks to face former titlist Richard Commey in March.

The two things that come to mind are simple in this situation. While most would agree a showdown between Ramirez and Prograis is a very good fight, it does seem an uneven split favoring Prograis. Regardless of what the WBC deems fair, Ramirez is the bigger star. I can understand giving Prograis the lion's share as champion, but 35% seems rather low for the guy that will likely sell most of the tickets. Both bring something to the table, therefore the split should be closer to the middle.

For reference, Ramirez made a minimum of $1 million for a comeback fight against Jose Pedraza back in March. Let's assume the winning bid for Prograis-Ramirez is in the neighborhood of $2 million, 35% would mean Ramirez makes $700,000 -- more than a quarter of a million dollars less in a title fight than he did for the aforementioned Pedraza clash.

Having said all of that, one would hope Top Rank, Ramirez' promoter, could do better than recycling Richard Commey. Ramirez is now 30 years of age, in the prime of his career, and needs to be facing legitimate threats that can actually propel his career.

That...isn't Richard Commey.

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