By Keith Idec

Jose Ramirez endured a lot of criticism when he didn’t participate in the World Boxing Super Series’ 140-pound tournament.

Fans lambasted Ramirez for not embracing boxing’s best competition in his division, most notably Regis Prograis. Ramirez reminded those that condemned him that the decision has more than worked out for him.

The total compensation package for Ramirez and his promoter, Bob Arum, exceeds a career-high $4 million for his 140-pound title unification fight against Maurice Hooker on Saturday night.

“It’s life-changing,” Ramirez told BoxingScene.com. “I know there’s no one in the tournament making the kind of money we’re making for this fight, not even in the finals. I can guarantee you that’s true. They will not be making the money I’ll be making in this fight. Maybe Prograis’ last two fights put together wouldn’t be what I’m making in this fight. At the end of the day, the financial part is important. We fight for our families and to give them a better life. The other thing is there are two titles on the line. And after this fight, this huge obstacle I have in front of me, I hope to take on the winner of the tournament.”

The 26-year-old Ramirez (24-0, 16 KOs), of Avenal, California, and Hooker (26-0-3, 17 KOs), a 29-year-old Dallas native, will fight for Hooker’s WBO and Ramirez’s WBC 140-pound championships in a main event DAZN will stream Saturday night from College Park Center in Arlington, Texas (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT).

New Orleans’ Prograis (24-0, 20 KOs) and Scotland’s Josh Taylor (15-0, 12 KOs) could fight as soon as October 5 in the final of the World Boxing Super Series’ 140-pound tournament.

Based on how everything worked out, Ramirez doesn’t regret not participating in the WBSS. He still offered a detailed explanation as to why he wasn’t part of it.

“Those that know the truth know that I had no choice on that decision not to go into the tournament,” Ramirez said. “When we finally went to Top Rank and demanded some answers because of what people were saying – especially when the guy who was running the tournament came out on Instagram and said we turned down a multi-million-dollar deal – we asked Top Rank and they finally told us they did get an offer from [the WBSS]. But it wasn’t a great offer, they said. It was nothing different from any of the other fighters going into the tournament. And at that point, they had signed a big deal with ESPN, so they had different plans for their fighters. See, the fighters that go into that tournament didn’t necessarily have a big network behind them. In this case, Top Rank had a plan for their fighters to go on ESPN. Once they told me that, it was too late to go into that tournament.

“For 2½ months, three months, I was really confused about what people were saying – that I chose not to go in the tournament. It was hard for me to spend my energy trying to tell the fans that I would never turn down a fight. But you just get tired. If they wanna believe you, they’re gonna believe you. If they don’t, then they don’t. At the end of the day, I’m gonna face these fighters sooner or later. The tournament’s not gonna last forever. The fighters in the tournament aren’t saying, ‘My fights in the tournament are gonna be my only fights at 140 and then I’ll move on with my career.’ I don’t think that’s the plan for most of those fighters. I think the plan is to get all four titles. Two world titles are in the tournament and two world titles are outside of the tournament. And I happen to be in the position where I’m one fight away from having two world titles. So, if the other guys are interested in getting the rest of the belts, they’re gonna have to go through me. And vice versa, I’m gonna have to go through them.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.