BARRY McGUIGAN has urged Scottish boxing fans to catch Josh Taylor while they still can at the SSE Hydro on the night of June 23 – because there are no guarantees when this 27-year-old will be back fighting in this country again.
While the self-styled pride of Prestonpans has already fought at vaunted venues such as Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the Irish fight legend knows his young protege is one win away from genuinely going global. Success against Viktor Postol will clinch a crack at the WBC super lightweight title, most likely against Jose Ramirez of the USA, and almost certainly secure a return journey as headline act to one of the most-illustrious arenas in world boxing.
That Postol, a former holder of this belt, is a formidable opponent there is no doubt. Terence Crawford, the American who unified the world titles in this division before triumphantly moving up a weight class at the turn of the year, is the only man ever to beat the Ukrainian in the pro ranks, and even that was on points. But McGuigan is adamant the Scot can become the first man to knock Postol out and feels Scottish fight fans would be crazy to miss out on this final eliminator.
While a large travelling army of fans is sure to make the journey along the M8 from Taylor’s native Edinburgh, the Finnieston venue was only half-full – admittedly against a last-minute replacement as opponent, while Scotland was ravaged by snow – for his last Hydro show against Winston Campos in early March. “I firmly believe this bout will be a tipping point for Josh,” said McGuigan. “Not only will a win guarantee him a shot at the WBC title, it will raise his profile because beating someone as good as Postol will let everyone else realise just how good he is. He’s already fought in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Brooklyn and the Yanks just love him because he’s an all-action guy. They want to see boxers who fight on the front foot and that’s Josh to a T.
“The Scottish fans have been great for him but anyone who hasn’t seen him yet should snap up a ticket for this show because he’s going to be so big that I can’t say for definite he’ll be back on a bill here any time soon,” added the Irish fight legend. “My advice would be to catch him while you can because Josh is going to go global. If he continues to progress as he has been doing then we’ll be taking him all over the world. We have a duty to him to do whatever is best for his career – both in a sporting and a financial sense – and that’s likely to mean that he’ll be fighting in lots of different countries as a world champion.”
Taylor has boxed just 47 rounds in his 12 pro fights to date compared with Postol’s 232 in 30 but McGuigan is already sure he is dealing with the most exciting fighter in Britain. With an extensive amateur career under his belt, Taylor is 27 years old and feels he is entering his peak.
“Listen, Viktor Postol is a top-quality opponent, better than anyone else that Josh has met so far,” said McGuigan. “But I don’t just think he’ll beat Postol – I think he’ll stop him. The great thing is that he doesn’t just hit you hard – he hits you so often that it wears you down and the sheer volume of punches disorientates opponents.
“The fact we’re putting him in with Postol this early shows you the faith we have in Josh,” added McGuigan. “We’re not f***ing about here; this kid is already the most exciting fighter in Britain. He’s also one of the most exciting boxers in the world and, after this fight, everyone will know about him.”
Taylor’s involvement with Cyclone Promotions thus far has been a marriage made in heaven, the Scot thriving through his training arrangement with Barry’s son Shane as he has made good on the potential which saw him claim Commonwealth silver in Delhi in 2010 then gold at the Hydro back in 2014.
“You could see that he was skilful – it was no problem for him to switch from an orthodox stance to fighting southpaw,” says McGuigan. “It was obvious to me that he had the credentials to become a good pro and that’s not always the case with successful amateurs. You have the scoring system, the foamy gloves, the headguards and all that stuff; it’s like a completely different sport to the paid ranks.
“But I knew even then that Josh had the potential to be very good indeed. However, what mattered was whether or not he was a good learner and he’s been absolutely brilliant.
“Shane has been the ideal trainer for him,” added Barry. “They get on well and Josh can assimilate advice and take a game plan into a fight. He’s an explosive kid but it’s about technique as much as it is about power.
“He’s learned to be patient and to take that extra half-second to set himself before he gets his shots off because it’s been explained to him that he’ll get much more weight behind his punches if his stance is correct.
“That might sound obvious but it also takes cojones to do that in the heat of battle. Josh has them and he’s proved it.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here