Maurice Hooker vs Jose Ramirez Prediction, Betting Odds, and Pick 7/27

Maurice Hooker and Jose Carlos Ramirez will unify their 140-pound world titles on July 27, 2019, at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.

Maurice Hooker vs Jose Carlos Ramirez

Ramirez captured the vacant WBC light welterweight title with a win over Amir Imam in March of 2018. Barely, three months later, Hooker won the vacant WBO title by defeating Terry Flanagan in the U.K. After months of speculation, this 140-pound title unification is finally good to go.

With WBA champion Regis Prograis and IBF titleholder Josh Taylor set to fight in the finals of the World Boxing Super Series final at an upcoming fate, this bout becomes all too important because the winners of both bouts could end up fighting for the undisputed 140-pound title.

Maurice Hooker

Maurice Hooker is the current WBO light-welterweight champion. He traveled all the way to England in June 2018 to score a split decision win over former world champion Terry Flanagan. Since then, Hooker has defended the belt successfully two times, beating Alex Saucedo and Mikkel Les Pierre.

The 29-year old from Dallas, Texas has an undefeated record of 26-0-3 with 17 knockouts. He has gone the distance in five out of his last six bouts. Hooker stands 5-11 tall and has a reach of 80 inches while fighting out of the orthodox stance. In his last bout, Hooker won a unanimous decision over LesPierre.

What are the Moneyline Odds?

Hooker

+115

Ramirez

-145

Odds were taken from Titanbet.com as of 7/17/19

Jose Ramirez

Jose Carlos Ramirez is the reigning WBC light-welterweight champion. He captured the belt by defeating Amir Imam by unanimous decision in March 2018. Ramirez has also defended his title twice already, defeating Antonio Orozco and Jose Zepeda by decision. As an amateur, Ramirez represented the United States in the 2012 Olympics although he didn’t win a medal.

Ramirez stands 5-10 tall and has a reach of 72 inches while fighting out of the orthodox stance. He has an undefeated record of 24-0 with 16 knockouts. In his last three fights, Ramirez has gone the full 12 rounds. In his most recent bout, Ramirez escaped with a majority decision win over Jose Zepeda, in a fight where some experts say he lost.

Who Wins?

It’s always great to have these unification fights because there is a better chance that we’ll be getting even fights where we can get better value as compared to one-sided ones where the boxing betting odds are very lopsided. This one’s pretty much even with Ramirez a slight -145 favorite against Hooker who is at +115. But really, this one could go either way and I won’t blame you betting on both sides. However, let’s compare both fighters to even make a better pick:

Hooker was a former Dallas Golden Gloves champion and had around 90 amateur bouts. On the other hand, Ramirez fought around the same number of fights but he made it to the 2012 Olympics where he lost in the Round of 16. Ramirez also fought in the 2011 AIBA World Championships and even fought Vasyl Lomachenko. So when it comes to amateur pedigree, I will give the edge to Ramirez.

As a professional, Hooker has a couple more fights in the resume than Ramirez. Five of Hooker’s last six bouts have gone the distance, mostly 10-rounders though. On the other hand, Ramirez has gone 12 rounds in each of his last three fights. Hooker though has fought three former world champions while the biggest name on Ramirez’s resume is Amir Imam. If we talk about experience, Maurice Hooker has the advantage.

Ramirez has a 67% knockout rate while Hooker has knocked out 59% of his opponents. However, I think Hooker packs more power in his punches. The stoppages that Ramirez had were more of the result of the accumulation of punches due to his volume punching. That said, Ramirez does hit hard but not as hard as Hooker.

Hooker also has better boxing fundamentals here and he also has the physical advantages over Ramirez. Hooker is at least an inch taller and has a huge 8-inch reach advantage. If he uses those to his advantage and boxes out of trouble, this should be a fight that goes in his favor. However, Hooker doesn’t fight his height and is often lured into a brawl. That could be costly against Ramirez.

Ramirez is a brawler who has an out of this world work rate. Once he gets his rhythm going, he always goes for the kill and more often than not, he is successful. If Hooker fights at a distance, he has a good chance of winning this. However, he doesn’t fight that way and instead loves fighting on the inside. That won’t work against a pitbull like Ramirez. I’m picking Jose Carlos Ramirez to beat Maurice Hooker.

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Tevin Farmer vs Guillaume Frenois

Tevin Farmer will defend his IBF Super Featherweight title against Guillaume Frenois in the undercard of Hooker vs Ramirez. The 28-year-old southpaw from Philadelphia has a record of 29-4-1 with 6 knockouts. Farmer stands 5-6 tall and has a reach of 67 inches. He won the vacant IBF belt by defeating Billy Dib in Australia and has since made four successful title defenses within a year.

What are the Moneyline Odds?

Farmer

N/A

Frenois

N/A

Odds were taken from Titanbet.com as of 7/17/19

Guillaume Frenois fought Irishman Jono Carroll in a final eliminator for the IBF super featherweight belt. The fight ended in a controversial draw and Carroll went on to face Tevin Farmer in his most recent title defense and lost. Now, it’s the 35-year-old southpaw from France who will get a shot at beating Farmer. Frenois has a record of 46-1-1 with 12 knockouts. He stands 5-7 ½ with an undisclosed reach while fighting as a southpaw.

Who Wins?

This is Farmer’s fifth fight in a span of one year and that’s a ridiculous pace. Not only has he been fighting too much, but he’s also been winning them all as well and that’s impressive. However, I don’t think Farmer has been as impressive in his last two bouts as he was in his previous two. Still, he was good enough to win both without getting into serious trouble.

I think Frenois is good but not great. He is a good boxer but doesn’t have the punching power that could put Tevin Farmer on notice. I expect Frenois to box Farmer here and I think he’s going to win some rounds in this bout but I don’t think he’ll have enough to beat Farmer. He’s already 35 and doesn’t have the same speed and reflexes as the champion. Tevin Farmer has more skill and speed. He’s going to outbox Frenois here and walks away victorious. Prediction: Tevin Farmer

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