Josh Taylor is now one of the top five pound for pound fighters in the world and the best in the UK and yet I’ve been left baffled by the lack of coverage in the mainstream media.
aylor became the undisputed light-welterweight champion of the world after beating Jose Ramirez in Las Vegas. In the era of four major world titles, he became the first British fighter to hold them all and he has done it in just 18 fights. It’s an amazing achievement and yet he has not received his due credit and I can’t understand why not.
I even had a bizarre moment in an interview with BBC Scotland who asked me why I thought he hadn’t received the acclaim he deserved and I was thinking, ‘Well, you’re the BBC, should you not know?’
Right now, Taylor should be the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and unless something huge happens like England winning the Euros then I don’t see why that should change. Whether he gets it or not is another matter.
The fight was shown on streaming channel Fite.tv who have just been bought over by the promotional company Triller. They seem to be becoming a big mover within the sport after winning the promotional rights to Teofimo Lopez’s next title defence. Unfortunately, with the fight not being on Sky or BT Sport, it has gone under the radar.
I know that Josh has had a few controversial moments over the years but I don’t see why that should be a stumbling block to him enjoying the proper coverage from the likes of BBC and ITV as well as Sky.
After all, Tiger Woods did some really shameful things and look how he was lauded in 2019 for winning The Masters.
Maybe it’s just a bit of bias against boxing because American Phil Mickelson won the US PGA Championship last weekend and he was all over the UK media outlets. It really is a shame that Taylor has not been lauded, when those in other sports with less achievements receive a lot of praise.
One thing is sure, Taylor is on course to become one of Britain’s all-time great fighters as well as one of the UK’s greatest sportsmen. He can now be mentioned in the same breath as Lennox Lewis and Joe Calzaghe, and has surpassed Ricky Hatton in such a short space of time.
After a brilliant performance against Ramirez, he is now in line to face some of the biggest names in the sport. Manny Pacquiao, Terence Crawford and undisputed lightweight champion Lopez have all been mentioned and they would be multi-million pound purses.
The perfect next fight for Taylor would be against Jack Catterall, who stepped aside so the unification battle with Ramirez could take place. Taylor’s dream is to fight at Edinburgh Castle and a Scotland against England battle would be a huge attraction.
Who knows, it may even wake up the media to how good a fighter Taylor is.
It’s funny but when I reflect, the two guys I would have stayed behind to watch spar after training were Taylor and Catterall because they were so good. It would be a very intriguing fight. Taylor would be favourite but we haven’t seen the best of Catterall.
One thing that was annoying last weekend was the refereeing of Kenny Bayliss. He was far too generous to Ramirez after both knockdowns — particularly the second. The fight could easily have been stopped but Ramirez was given an age to get himself together and continue.
After that, I felt that Taylor was in control in the second half of the fight and even coasted a little which maybe made the fight closer on the cards of the judges.
But Taylor was the winner without a doubt and has joined the absolute elite of the sport and the future could not be brighter.
Dubois can send critics a message
The last time Daniel Dubois fought, I got a lot of stick for saying that he quit against Joe Joyce, but I still stand by that as he prepares to make his return to the ring this Saturday night.
What I didn’t say was that Dubois was a quitter, and in no way do I think he is.
Dubois has been very fortunate to have been matched with Bogdan Dinu for the WBA interim world heavyweight title. His promoter Frank Warren has pulled off a masterstroke because Dinu should not be any threat to Dubois.
I’m going to be commentating again for BT Sport on this one and I’m looking forward to seeing Dubois answer a few questions because people will be left with some doubts, even though he suffered a broken eye socket.
In my opinion, he should not have been put in that position of calling it quits. Instead, the corner should have pulled him out. I hope he can put the Joyce loss behind him and turn in a really exciting performance.
I love to see Leah holding Court
Leah McCourt produced a brilliant performance to win her latest Bellator bout last weekend and must be one of the most marketable mixed martial fighters out there.
I know she has headlined in Dublin and the way Leah is going I would hope that it won’t be too long before she can be top of the bill at the SSE Arena.
She was behind in her fight and under real pressure but then delivered this cracking heel kick that turned it all around. I loved her never-say-die attitude and so will the local fans.
Full credit to Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao and Errol Spence have signed to fight in one of the bouts of the summer and I have to give all the credit in the world to the Pac Man.
Pacquaio’s nearly as old as my dad, who can hardly tie his shoe laces, and here he is fighting one of the pound for pound best fighters on the planet. He’s an incredible fighter, but I do feel that Spence will be too fresh at this stage and he has to be a clear favourite on August 21.
