Josh Taylor thought he was on track for one of the vital vital victories of his profession when he fought American star Teofimo Lopez this yr.
After the primary quarter of their WBO super-lightweight championship struggle on the Madison Sq. Backyard Theater, Taylor felt in command.
He thought: “I’ll cease this man. He is strolling into what we’ll do.
“I started off really well. I came out and I sussed him out straight away. He was doing everything what we planned, what we thought he was going to do,” Taylor advised Sky Sports activities.
“I was keeping him on the end of my jab, a couple of left hands, a couple of body shots and stuff. It felt great. It was quite easy.”
However after the fourth spherical, that every one modified. His legs felt “gone”.
“I usually get a little bit like that in fights and [think] alright the second wind will come. But it never came, it just got worse and worse and worse,” he recalled. “He was simply higher than me on the night time.
“If you’re not quite your best on the night you’re going to get beaten at the top level. It’s tiny margins at the top level which make the difference between winning and losing.”
The build-up to his struggle with Lopez had been fraught. Taylor signed for a rematch with Jack Catterall, however sustained an damage which noticed that contest cancelled.
The WBO ordered a compulsory defence in opposition to Lopez, one of many large names in American boxing after his victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko.
“I had to take that fight. When else am I going to get the chance to fight at Madison Square Garden? Another one ticked off the bucket list of my career to achieve,” Taylor stated.
“I know I’ve taken my first loss which was quite a hard one to swallow. The only reason why it was a hard one to swallow is because I know I can perform better.
“As a result of I do know I can carry out higher and be higher, that was what aggravated me.”
He needed to adapt his coaching camp round rehabilitation from his damage. Taylor is satisfied that he might beat Lopez in a rematch.
“I took the fight, I felt great, great camp, made the weight well, just wasn’t good enough on the night, that’s all. But I do firmly believe, me at my best, I win that fight all day,” Taylor stated.
“I’ve got that self-belief and that self-confidence. I firmly believe that me at my best and performing at my best [against] Teofimo Lopez, I win that fight. Without a doubt.
“I nonetheless took numerous confidence from that struggle. I nonetheless felt I received 5 of the 12 rounds,” he added. “However I went out within the eleventh and legs gone.
“I just battled on. You never know, you’ve always got that puncher’s chance.
“It wasn’t to be however I took plenty of confidence from it. I nonetheless did okay for the extent of preparation that I might do.”
What next for Taylor
He would relish a rematch with Lopez.
“In my view he’s the No 1 now within the 140lb division. He beat the person who was the person, who had all of the belts, who was undisputed champion,” Taylor stated.
“He beat Lomachenko. Then he beat me who was undisputed [Taylor had to vacate three of his belts while trying to make the Catterall rematch].
“I would like to right that incorrect and field him once more,” Taylor said of Lopez.
“I’d like to struggle him. There’s the large one, the plain one [Catterall] that I would love to do as properly.
“I’ll fight anybody.”
Todd duBoef, president of High Rank which promotes Taylor, believes he can attain title class within the division above.
“I think you’ve also got to see what else happens with the welterweights. [Terence] Crawford sitting on a lot of those titles, who knows what’s going to happen with that and I think Josh fits in very nicely with his ranking and obviously his body of work for some type of title in the 147lb division,” duBoef advised Sky Sports activities.
Crawford beat Errol Spence of their undisputed welterweight championship struggle this yr. They might rematch, and Crawford would possibly transfer as much as 154lbs.
“I can still do 140lbs,” Taylor stated. “I’m big enough and strong enough for 147 as well.
“[Crawford is] unrealistic simply now for me,” he continued. “Get an excellent struggle at welter after which hopefully get in for a title shot.
“Crawford vacating his belts and the belts all become fragmented and then I can get a shot hopefully at a title.”
Giovani Santillan, a High Rank promotional stablemate, is ranked the No 1 welterweight contender with the WBO, the place Taylor is No 5.
“That’s one that could be in house. It would be made pretty easily as well. There’s a lot of big fights out there at 140 and 147lbs. The future’s looking bright. I want to get back in as soon as possible and get the momentum going,” he stated.
Most significantly Taylor must field recurrently. He desires to return in March or April.
“Then get out hopefully in the summer and then maybe once at the end of the year. Definitely two times next year, hopefully three,” he stated.
“I’m still in this game to be involved in big fights and I believe that I still haven’t reached my pinnacle yet, even though I have reached the pinnacle of the sport. I still feel that I can still achieve more and I’ve still got more to give.
“I can do every part with out restrictions now, there is not any excuse why I am unable to get again to my greatest.”