WBO orders Paro vs Ramirez final eliminator after Barboza withdraws

Liam Paro and Jose Ramirez have five days to negotiate

Early last month, the WBO ordered Arnold Barboza Jr to face Liam Paro in a super lightweight final eliminator. The two failed to come to terms in the allotted time, prompting an April 27th purse bid that saw Matchroom defeat Top Rank with a $303,000 offer. Barboza manager Rick Mirigian then took his ball and went home, prompting the WBO to order negotiations between Paro and no. 4 Jose Ramirez.

The pair have four days to hash things out.

Mirigian also manages Ramirez (28-1, 18 KO), so the knee-jerk reaction is to expect another “no thank you,” but the WBO initially contacted their camp days ago to confirm whether they were interested in the matchup at all. Had they declined, no. 5 Shohjahon Ergashev would have gotten the call instead.

It still seems like an uphill battle considering Ramirez passed on a vacant WBC title fight against Regis Prograis over the purse split. We’ll see if Top Rank and/or Matchroom can cough up enough money to get him interested.