If there was a movie of Josh Taylor’s career, he seems to be playing it on fast forward. It has only taken Taylor 17 fights to stand on the cusp of being the first British boxer to hold WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF titles at the same time.
After spending the early stages of his professional career on Carl Frampton’s undercards, Taylor’s career suddenly took off, as he stormed through the World Boxing Super Series, winning the WBA and IBF super-lightweight titles in the process. But for the pandemic, this weekend’s fight for the undisputed world title against Jose Ramirez in Las Vegas would have happened months ago.
“I want to get in, see what I can do in the sport, prove myself and then get out,” Taylor, 30, said. “I’m in this game to fight the best and take no easy fights. That’s what I’m about and I believe there should be more fighters doing this in the sport to keep the sport alive, jumping and exciting.
“I had a world title eliminator, then into the Series, two world titles, defending it and then straight into becoming undisputed champion for all the belts in the space of two years. It’s been mental. I couldn’t have imagined I’d be boxing to become undisputed champion so quickly in my career. “I’m taking risks every fight. I’m taking big fight after big fight and that’s what I want to do.”
Up to and including his win over Regis Prograis in the WBSS final, Taylor was trained by Shane McGuigan and guided by McGuigan’s father, Barry, and while he has since moved on, Taylor does not hide away from what they did in his career, matching him tough and then signing him up for the WBSS.
“It was good matchmaking at the start, but then obviously the beauty of being in the tournament where you had eight of the top ranked fighters in the division,” Taylor said. “You had no choice and none of the usual boxing politics and rival promoters and broadcasters was going on.
“You had no choice, the best had to fight the best and that’s what happened. I went in there, all or nothing, I came out on top and it’s proved to have been a good move and a good risk to take. Then I did my mandatory defence and then straight into this undisputed fight which is good.
“This is what I pushed for and this could have been one where the usual boxing stuff gets in the way. This fight could have been another Mayweather-Pacquiao where it could have been postponed for years and years.”
It has been 50 years since Ken Buchanan, who like Taylor comes from Edinburgh, was the last Scotsman to become an undisputed world champion, although in those days, he only had two belts to worry about.
“It surely is inspirational,” he said. “It’s a massive piece of history to be the first Scotsman to be a four-belt undisputed champion. It’s a huge motivator for me as well to come back and create that history and legacy to be known as an undisputed champion.
“Ramirez thinks he sees something. He thinks he’s going to run me over, maul me and overwhelm me, which is a really dangerous thing for him to think and good for me because he will run into a shot and end up on his backside.”
Taylor showed his fiery side to Rick Mirigan, Ramirez’s manager, this week, but Taylor has always been a bit of a fighter since he was small.
“I was always a fiery young kid,” Taylor said. “Once my temper breaks, I will do anything to win, I’m very determined. I’ve always been quite feisty and I had to defend myself growing up.
“It’s not anything bad, it’s just the way I’ve been brought up, I never let people take advantage of me. I always stuck up for myself. I didn’t have any big cousins or brothers or anyone to stick up for me, I had to do it myself.
“I was really, really small when I was younger and this scar on my face, when I was younger it was really prominent. It was quite big and I used to get taunted about it. People used to call me names and I would lash out because I felt insecure because of the way I looked.
“Because I was small, they thought I was an easy target, but I never used to be an easy target, I would stand up for myself. It would be a shock to most people that I could fight.”
As well as boxing, Taylor has a taste for fast motorbikes, but the scar he got as a child was a result of participating in a much more genteel sport.. golf.
“I was playing golf with my cousin,” he said. “I was standing right behind as he was swinging, it wasn’t the backswing, it was the follow through. It caught me right in the face.
“I put my hand on my face and when I took my had away it was covered in blood, just completely covered in blood.
“I ran up to my uncle’s house and he freaked out and took me to my mum’s. From there I waited for ambulance to come. Once I was waiting on the ambulance, the pain started coming. I was in the ambulance laughing away and then the next moment I woke up with this huge thing on my face and I was eating through a straw for the next six weeks.”
It has taken the best part of a couple of decades, but having been brought up near some of the world’s greatest gold courses, Taylor has begun to pick up the clubs again.
“I played a couple of times last year and have started getting back on the course,” he said. “My cousin plays at the Royal Musselburgh and Prestonpans so I have been up there with him.
“I might get myself another set of clubs when I get back.”
· German Doner Kebab is revolutionising the kebab in the UK, bringing a fresh, high-quality taste sensation that has made it the number one spot to enjoy a kebab. www.germandonerkebab.com/
* Taylor-Ramirez is on fite.tv in the UK
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.
