Jose Zepeda is convinced he has already beaten Jose Ramirez.

Since their 12-round, 140-pound title fight resulted in Zepeda’s second defeat, though, the veteran southpaw hopes to get a second shot at the unbeaten WBC/WBO champion. Ramirez has more pressing business to address first – a fight against WBC mandatory challenger Viktor Postol and, if he wins, a title unification showdown with IBF/WBA champ Josh Taylor.

Whatever occurs when he opposes Postol and potentially Taylor, Zepeda (31-2, 25 KOs, 2 NC) wants a chance to avenge his majority-decision defeat to Ramirez (25-0, 17 KOs). Ramirez beat Zepeda on two scorecards in February 2019, but Zepeda thinks a pro-Ramirez crowd in Fresno, California, impacted the outcome of their bout at a packed Save Mart Arena.

“I would love to fight Ramirez again,” Zepeda told BoxingScene.com. “I did think I won the fight. After everything was done, I did watch the fight a couple more times. I thought I won, like many people say. I won either eight or seven rounds, minimum. I know that it was his crowd. I know that the judges, you know, they listen to all this noise when Ramirez is throwing punches. It could’ve been a big factor that helped Ramirez out, because the whole crowd was on Ramirez’s side.

“So, every time he would throw a punch into the air or a flurry that wouldn’t hit me at all, people would get so excited. It would make it seem as if I was getting hurt, which I wasn’t. But since he was the champion and we were at his backyard, I also believed I needed to give that extra. Even though I did think I won, it doesn’t bother me that they gave it to him. It’s boxing, and it’s not the first time it happened.”

The 31-year-old Zepeda, of La Puente, California, will fight for the third time Tuesday night since losing to Ramirez, who beat Zepeda near Ramirez’s hometown of Avenal, California. Zepeda will face San Antonio’s Kendo Castaneda (17-1, 8 KOs, 1 NC) in a 10-round, 144-pound main event ESPN will air from MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).

Zepeda produced the most noteworthy win of his 10-year pro career in his last fight. He soundly defeated two-division champion Jose Pedraza (27-3, 13 KOs) in their 10-rounder, which Zepeda won by unanimous decision September 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“I believe Top Rank is giving me fights for a reason,” Zepeda said. “I think they wanna put me back in there with Ramirez, or even Josh Taylor. I’m fine with that. That’s all I want is a title shot, for any title. Eventually, I’m gonna show that I belong there and I’m gonna show that I beat Ramirez the first time. I’ll show that in the second fight if we get it.”

Meanwhile, Zepeda expects Ramirez to win his 12-rounder versus Ukraine’s Postol (31-2, 12 KOs). Ramirez-Postol has been postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it likely will be rescheduled for some time in August.

“I think Ramirez is gonna overwhelm him with punches in bunches,” Zepeda said. “Postol doesn’t move a lot and he doesn’t have a lot of footwork, so I believe he is just gonna be there for Ramirez to be throwing a lot of punches at him.” 

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