GLASGOW, Scotland – Ricky Hatton’s death shook Josh Taylor awake to a truth he had been avoiding: life after boxing isn’t easy. Hatton was an idol of Taylor’s and the Scot watched Hatton dethrone Kostya Tszyu to lift the IBF 140lbs title as a young amateur, dreaming that one day he would do the same.
Hatton had his struggles in retirement, as so many fighters do when their fighting days come to a halt. Taylor himself had been battling to make peace with his own career’s sudden end when the news of Hatton’s death broke and it might have been the wake up call he needed in a dark time.
“It’s a sad and horrible and not pleasant lesson to learn,” Taylor told BoxingScene. “Because I was kind of going down that kind of route myself, with feeling shit. I don't like using the word depressed because it gets thrown about too much, but I was in, let's just say, a hole really. You know, feeling shit, feeling down in the dumps, and feeling that it’d been ripped away from me. That I’ve got nothing left to live for and all that kind of shit. So yeah, I woke up to that news and it kind of sobered me up a little bit. I kind of gave myself a shake.”
Hatton’s death was the turning point. Like Taylor, it affected many in the boxing community. Hatton truly touched the lives of everyone he met with his love and passion for the sport, but his death is a harsh reminder of what happens when the fight doesn’t end with the final bell. Retirement had left Taylor restless and adrift, his exit from the sport coming not on his own terms but through injury and frustration.
“I’ve had my ups and downs because it’s still quite raw, really,” Taylor said. “I knew I was coming to the later end of my career anyway, but to kind of have it halted, kind of like cut down straight away because of my eye, I was a bit pissed off, a bit gutted. I didn’t finish on the way I wanted to finish.”
Life after boxing has not been easy for the Scot. Taylor had been at the top of the sport for nearly all his life. Competing around the world as an amateur since he was a youngster and then being fast-tracked as a pro, he became the undisputed champion in just 18 fights. Boxing was Taylor’s life, his identity, and all he had ever known. When that disappeared, so did his sense of self. It left a gap that Taylor has been trying to fill.
“I’ve been struggling a little bit, I’m not going to lie,” he admitted. “It has been tough at times, but life moves on and you find other things and other passions and stuff. I’ve got things like my motorbikes and all that that I can get into. And go and spend time with my wife that I’ve never really been able to do, and now I’ve been able to spend time with my friends and my pals that I grew up with at school that I’ve never been able to spend time with. Going on holidays and this and that, going out together to go bowling or go to the cinema or something. I’ve never been able to do that for years.”
With boxing gone, a void remains, however. Boxing was Taylor’s first true love, and like a man’s first breakup, it cuts deeply.
“The other side is shit,” he said. “I’ve not got what I loved and lived for really, but it’s all right. I’ll learn and get there and move on.”
That void hasn’t just left a space in Taylor’s heart, but in his life too. The time that was taken up by training and recovery is now empty, and time alone can sometimes be the worst thing for a man.
“I’ve got nothing but fucking time,” Taylor said. “They all say time makes work for the devil, you know – idle hands make work for the devil. So yeah, I’ve had a couple of bad days here and there, but now I’m through that now.”
Although Taylor achieved something no Brit ever has in becoming undisputed champion, he still is not appreciated by many fight fans in the UK.
“I’m not really too fussed about all that anyway, but yeah, I should have had more recognition,” he admitted. “I should have, my fights not being on telly, especially becoming undisputed champion, it wasn’t shown on telly and things like that. So there’s wee bits of that. But yeah, I’m not really too fussed. I can sleep at night knowing what I’ve done, and knowing that I’m the only man to do what I’ve done.
“So yeah, I’m more than happy with my career.”
He’s achieved what no Brit has before, lived the highs few ever see, and now, finally, he can say he’s made peace with it all, even if the biggest fight will continue.
