Josh Taylor Secures Olympic Spot at The London Games

Lochend lightweight Josh Taylor has become the sixth Great Britain boxer to confirm his place at the London Olympics after reaching the semi-finals of the final European qualifying event in Trabzon.

Taylor's 17-9 win over Armenia's Vladimir Sarukhanyan, coupled with defeat for England's Sam Maxwell against home favourite Fatih Keles, means Taylor has booked the solitary 60kg berth.

Taylor joins the already-qualified Andrew Selby, Luke Campbell, Tom Stalker, Fred Evans and Anthony Joshua, with three more British men still in with a chance of joining them.

Taylor also becomes the first Scottish lightweight to go to the Games since the legendary Dick McTaggart, who won a gold medal in Melbourne in 1956 and a bronze four years later in Rome.

Taylor's long-time coach at Lochend, Terry McCormack, said: "It is an absolutely fantastic achievement and it is the result of three years of non-stop hard work from Josh.

"He tried to qualify at light-welterweight to start with but we moved him down to lightweight and there has been no stopping him. He is big at the weight, he can really punch and as a southpaw he must be a nightmare to fight.

"It is amazing to get a Scottish boxer into the team for the London Olympics. Boxing has come a long way since Dick McTaggart but there is no reason why Josh cannot go on to reach the same kind of level."