Josh Taylor

Josh Taylor was born on January 2, 1991, and is a renowned professional boxer from Scotland. Born and raised in Prestonpans, East Lothian, Taylor was introduced to boxing at a young age and by the age of 18, he had already begun his professional career, quickly gaining recognition as a formidable opponent in the ring. Some of his key career highlights include winning the gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, securing the WBC Silver super-lightweight title in 2017, and earning the IBF super-lightweight title in May 2019.

One of his most memorable victories came in October 2019, when he defeated Regis Prograis to win the unified WBA (Super), and Ring magazine titles, as well as the coveted Muhammad Ali Trophy in the World Boxing Super Series. Despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic, Taylor returned to the ring in 2020 to successfully defend his titles against Apinun Khongsong.

His performance in the ring continued to impress throughout 2021 and 2022, with a highly anticipated and well-executed victory over Jose Ramirez in May 2021 and then over Jack Catterall in February 2022 which made him the undisputed light welterweight champion, holding the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring titles. Nevertheless, in his next fight in June of 2023, he got his first loss in a hard fight with Teofimo Lopez via unanimous decision and lost his WBO and The Ring belts.

Josh Taylor utilizes a style reminiscent of old-school boxing with his hands primarily held low, his chin tucked behind his lead shoulder, and his stance crouched down with a low center of gravity. He fights out of a southpaw stance and coordinates sudden attacks that he sneaks in when his opponents least expect them. He will often probe with his lead hand by sticking it out to touch his opponent’s lead hand. He will do this at a set rhythm to get his opponent to get a feel of that rhythm. Once he notices his opponent time the rhythm by hand fighting with him, Taylor will break the rhythm and launch forward with a punch as his opponent’s hand is extended and left hanging. Unlike the traditional wisdom of exiting out at the weak side angle against orthodox opponents, Taylor more often steps over the strong side angle after he attacks. This is dangerous because he is moving towards his opponent’s strong hand, but this seems to be what Taylor is looking for as he invites his opponent to punch back so he can roll under and counter.

Taylor also is very good at shifting after his leaping attacks to smother and clinch his opponent to prevent them from returning fire. From there he can initiate his inside fighting game where he controls his opponent’s gloves to pin them in place so he can use his free hand to punch around the opening. Taylor also utilizes step-backs and pushes from the clinch to create the distance needed to land a powerful punch. From a long distance, Taylor makes himself more difficult to time and predict by giving hard step feints which desensitizes his opponent to them so that he can sneak in leaping punches and remain unpredictable. Although Taylor primarily holds his hands low, he is excellent at knowing when to bring his hands up to defend himself and makes good use of a high guard when he is at a dangerous range.