Josh Taylor says he hopes he will “take a traveling army” to the United States if that is where he needs to go to face Jose Ramirez.
The 28-year-old Scot set his sights straight on a fight with Ramirez, the WBC and WBO super-lightweight champion, after unifying the WBA and IBF titles with a majority points decision over Regis Prograis in the final of the World Boxing Super Series at the O2 arena, London.
When asked where he would like it to be, his choices were Edinburgh Castle or Easter Road, the home of Hibernian FC in the Scottish capital. But he realised he would have to wait until the summer for that.
“You never know if we are going to get the weather,” he said. “Maybe a beautiful Scottish summer’s day – pouring down with rain. It’s a massive fight and I am willing to travel for it if I have to.
“Hopefully I now get the recognition I believe I deserve. I’ve kind of gone under the radar and I like that to an extent, I’m not a show pony, I don’t act up for the cameras. But this will take my profile to another level and people will be getting behind me. If I get this Ramirez fight and it is in America, I’ll take a traveling army.”
The table at the post-fight press conference was not big enough to hold all the belts and awards he had picked up, with the Muhammad Ali Trophy having to sit on the floor. Taylor’s right eye was still swollen completely shut, as he fielded questions.
“It’s not sunk in what I have achieved,” he said. “I’ve visualised it for so long. Ever since I put my name forward for this tournament I have visualised myself lifting the trophy and all these belts. It’s a big weight off my shoulders. I’m on cloud nine.
“It was a great fight, a hard fight, I got caught a few times by his head on the eye. From round eight or nine I could hardly see out of the eye because of the swelling. So I got caught by left hands because I couldn’t see anything coming. The last two rounds I was fight on instinct with one eye, so all tactics went out of the window. It was just my heart and determination.”
Despite one judge scoring it a draw, Taylor said he believed he had deserved to win, even though he was nervous as the result was announced.
“I thought I won the fight, it was close, but I thought I edged it by a couple of rounds,” he said. “I thought I was ahead but then I took my foot off the gas for a couple of rounds, I tried to march him down and I neglected my boxing. I knew I was getting on top of him and finishing the rounds very strong.
“[Prograis] is definitely a worthy champion. He was very good, he was hard to nail clean, he had very good head movement and timing and a good chin as well, because I hit him a couple of times and he never moved. He lived up to his reputation with his power as well, he definitely had heavy hands.
“When they said ‘the fighting pride of Scotland’, the house came crashing down, it was such a relief.”
The victory made Taylor the first Scot to hold a unified world title since 1971, when Ken Buchanan held the undisputed (then just the WBC and WBA) lightweight title. Taylor knows Buchanan well and hopes to show the former champion his belts.
“I can’t wait to bring the belts back to show to Kenny,” he said. “I haven’t seen him in a long time He come in my old amateur gym, Lochend, a lot.
“I never believed I would do it this quickly. I’ve only been a pro for four years.”
He also moves into a new home in East Lothian – east of Edinburgh – next week.
“This will be the first furniture we have in the new house,” Taylor said. “We’ve got no couch, no bed, no TV but we have got all these belts. That’s when it will sink in.”
ADD COMMENT VIEW COMMENTS (38)