Josh Taylor says he will take his time before selecting new trainer, but despite having had try-outs with both Adam Booth and Ben Davison, he has not ruled out working with an American trainer.
The WBA and IBF super-lightweight champion was left without a trainer after his split from Cyclone Promotions, the company run by Barry McGuigan, as he was trained by McGuigan’s son, Shane.
In the past few weeks, Taylor worked with Booth, who trains Michael Conlan, Joe Joyce and Josh Kelly, in Surrey, as well as Ben Davison, Tyson Fury’s former trainer, in Manchester, where he shared a flat with Billy Joe Saunders. But despite saying both experiences went very well, he is not sure if he will go with either.
“Choosing a coach is the most important decision for me to make now,” Taylor said. “I’ve got to take my time and choose the best guy for me.
“I was kind of hoping things would go really well with one and not so well with the other, so it would be an easy choice, but they were both really good.
“Adam is very technical and precise with what he does and Ben has told me things I can improve on.
“At both places they were very warm and made me feel very welcome.”
Taylor also said that he would like a try-out with Joe Gallagher as well as some coaches in the United States.
“If I can, I’d like to stay at home in the UK, that would be ideal, but there are a couple of coaches in America I’d like to try as well,” he said.
“I’m used to being away from home. I was training down in London for all that time (with Shane McGuigan, although his last camp was in Kent) and I was four years in Sheffield going all over the world training. From 15 years old I was with Team Scotland and we were going all over. So if I have to go to America, I will go to America.”
McGuigan had been his only trainer since Taylor turned professional after winning a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2014. Prior to that, he had been part of the Great Britain squad, overseen by Rob McCracken in Sheffield for four years.
Taylor said he has not spoken to him since he made the decision to break his ties to Cylone and sign with Top Rank and MTK. Cyclone are taking legal action claiming that Taylor is still under contract.
"There is a bit of sadness, we had a great working relationship in terms of everything we did in the gym was working, but he said himself in an interview that he wouldn’t train me because I’d left his Dad,” he said. “So that’s the reason why I’m not training with him, there is a bit of conflict of interest.
“I wasn't happy there anyway. That’s why I have moved.
“I haven’t spoken to him. I never left on bad terms, I just left because I wanted to take the next step of my career into my own hands. I wanted to do what was best for me.”
Taylor said he was disappointed that at McGuigan’s post on Twitter last week congratulating Sampson Lewkowicz for winning the purse bid against Top Rank for Taylor’s mandatory defence against IBF mandatory challenger Apinun Khongsong.
“I thought that was a little bit tasteless, I thought that was a wee bit of bitterness. That is understandable but I thought it was a bit below the belt.”