Josh Taylor on his performance against Catterall and Lopez: “It wasn’t my best”
The pride of Scottish boxing, Josh ‘The Tartan Tornado’ Taylor (19-1,13KOs), accepts that his recent outings have not been up to scratch.
The former undisputed super-lightweight champion lost his WBO and Ring titles last June when he was outpointed and outclassed by ‘The Takeover’ Teofimo Lopez in New York.
Holding on and surviving the distance, as soon as the final bell rang the result was clear to everyone watching. A new WBO super-lightweight champion was crowned, and it’s quite possible that Taylor may have participated in his final title fight.
One loss certainly isn’t enough to tarnish an elite fighter’s credibility, though, after a lacklustre performance against his bitter rival Jack Catterall a little over a year earlier, winning a dubious split decision, it seems the Scotsman’s powers could be waning.
Speaking in a recent interview with IFL TV, 33-year-old Taylor adamantly backs his abilities, stating he is still the fighter and the force he used to be.
“I’ve got plenty left. You know what? So, I’ve had one loss. I’ve had one loss, so now I’m, all of a sudden, finished. You know, had a bad performance against Jack. And then, I don’t know, sort of OK performance against [Teofimo] Lopez. But again, it wasn’t my best.
“But I’ve had one loss, so what, is that me finished? Is that me finished? Come on. All the greats in the past have had losses, multiple losses, but they’re still great fighters.
“So yes, I’m a great fighter. Of course, the hunger’s still there. I’ve got ambitions to obviously get this rematch done with Jack, hopefully, at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later. And then move on, get him out of the way, move on and hopefully become a two-weight world champion. That’s the goals I wanna set. You know, I’ve achieved everything I can at 140, so in terms of achievement-wise and belts, I’ve done it all.”
The Edinburgh-born fighter and his team are reportedly currently in talks with Catterall’s representatives over a proposed rematch.
However, Taylor went on to voice that super-lightweight is not the end goal for him, clearly intrigued by prospective matchups in the busy welterweight division.
“So, I wanna move up to welter and hopefully become a two-weight world champion, start chasing titles up there. You know, see what the lay of the land is in terms with the belts, if they become available, if Terence [Crawford] moves up or vacates or anything like that. So, the future’s bright. You know what I mean?
“There’s huge fights both at 140 and 147. So, you’ve got Devin Haney coming up, and all these [Ryan] Garcias and all that coming up as well, so there’s a lotta options are there, a lotta options are there and big fights. And that’s what I’m still in the game for, is to be involved in these big fights and produce big nights. So yeah, I can’t wait.”
Likely, Taylor will have to face Jack Catterall first, and win convincingly this time, before he can decide to move up to 147. There have been plans for a rematch in the past, first being postponed due to a foot injury suffered by the Scot. Then it was later discontinued altogether as he had to face the WBO’s mandatory challenger, Teofimo Lopez; A fight that ultimately resulted in doom and gloom for now title-less ‘Tartan Tornado’.