Jose Ramírez's manager has reacted to a fierce clash with opponent Josh Taylor at the face-off for the hotly-anticipated unification clash on Saturday, taunting the Scot over his weight and telling him that he will be knocked out.
Unbeaten Taylor was clearly incensed after an audibly acrimonious head-to-head ahead of the fight in Las Vegas, eyeballing Ramirez's boss, Rick Mirigian, shortly afterwards over his reaction to an outing last year.
Mirigian had called Taylor "overweight, drunk, and high" during his first-round victory over "Uber driver" Apinun Khongsong in September, mocking him for celebrating and predicting that his charge would beat him "in seven" in an appraisal that drew an expletive-laden response from the fighter when they met in person.
"Not so hard now, are you? F****** a**hole," Taylor can be seen asking Mirigian, squaring up to him while telling him: "Next time, back it up to your f****** face, ok?"
Warning: videos contain swearing
Now Mirigian has responded on Instagram, urging Taylor to concentrate on what he says is a doomed bid to claim all four versions of the super-lightweight world title by adding the WBC and WBO titles to his IBF and WBA crowns.
"You're in the biggest fight of your life – biggest in the sport," Mirigian told Taylor.
"Don't worry about a nobody's tweet [and threaten] me to come and 'beat me up', even though you look like you're in my weight class right now, and go out of your way not once but twice to come and get in my face and tell me you're going to 'f*** me up'.
"I hope to god you can as all you do is train and fight and you're supposed to. You better worry about Ramirez on Saturday, not me."
Warning: video contains swearing
The second skirmish Mirigian referred to appeared to have been filmed in the second snapshot of his post.
After exiting through a pair of hotel doors, Mirigian again found himself face to face with Taylor, who appeared to point at him again before heading off.
"I mean, he's fighting at my weight right now, so that's what he's prepared for," Mirigian said in the video, repeating his weight-related barb. "I understood every fourth word. He's going home without his belts."
Mirigian made a somewhat confusing reference to the fight between YouTube loudmouth Jake Paul and all-time great Floyd Mayweather as he took aim at Taylor again.
"The focus of Ramirez as opposed to his opponent is just the telltale to this fight," he argued.
"On another note, what do you think the betting line would be for this fight with me? Same as Jake Paul against Floyd Mayweather?
"Ramirez will stop Taylor on Saturday night and I have zero doubt [about that]."
Despite Mirigian's prediction, bookmakers have Taylor as a hefty favorite ahead of the seismic showdown. A successful $50 bet on the visiting fighter would only return around $20.
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