Scrappy hopes WBA enforces title shot
Last month, the WBA Championships Committee ordered a fight between WBA super flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka and #1 rated John “Scrappy” Ramirez with a February 15 deadline. Ioka, however, has reportedly petitioned the WBA for permission to instead fight a unification clash with WBC champ Juan Francisco Estrada targeted for July 3 in Tokyo.
Team Ramirez is hoping that the WBA will deny Ioka’s request and order him to fight “Scrappy” within 90-days or be stripped of the world title belt.
“It would be easy to get frustrated when you don’t get what you want,” Ramirez explained, “but I remind myself to trust the process. I know my team is doing its part and I am, too. It’s all about trusting the process and I’m a strong believer in that. I need to stay patient and focused in the gym, on my vision and my dream.
“I’m an old school fighter. After I win the belt, I want to fight three, four, five times a year defending it before I make the move to 118 (pounds). I’ve also had several conversations with the WBA and its committee, and I believe this fight will be next.
“I’ve been saying all along that I’ll fight him in Japan, I’d fight him on the moon. He’s the champion and I’m willing to fight him anywhere. I’m not getting frustrated and know that I need to stay smart. The beauty of the journey is I don’t have all the answers. But I get it. If I’m Ioka, I wouldn’t want to fight me either. He knows the game and knows I can send the 34-year-old into retirement.
“I’ve been saying for a long time, ‘and the new champion’,” Ramirez summed things up. “I actually feel like the champion right now. I just don’t have the belt to prove it, but all that’s left for me is to go get that WBA belt.”
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