TAYLOR-CAMPOS
Neither the snow nor Campos can halt Taylor’s relentless rise
Late replacement proves no match for ‘The Tartan Tornado’ in Glasgow
WHILE Glasgow shivered amid the remnants of a blizzard, Josh
Taylor turned up the heat on the super-lightweight division with a convincing third-round stoppage of Winston Campos at the SSE Hydro.
The 25-year-old Nicaraguan had been a late replacement for Mexican veteran Humberto Soto, who was injured while sparring, and the adverse weather conditions brought more disruption to the show in terms of rearranged media events and the weigh-in.
A change of opponent at a week’s notice had been “a bit of a nightmare” for the 27-yearold from Prestonpans, but he remained focused and clinical as he extended his perfect record to 12 fights – 11 wins coming inside the distance – with another accomplished display which takes him a step closer to his dream of a world title fight.
Campos, fighting for the first time in Britain, looked unconvincing from the first bell. Taylor, performing in the same arena where he won Commonwealth Games gold in 2014, capitalised upon that tentativeness, although the visitor going to the floor just before the bell appeared to be due to a push as much as anything else. However, twice in the second round Campos succumbed to the dominant Scot, taking a count of ‘eight’ from a lefthander and then a count of ‘nine’ after a flurry of punishing shots, with referee Victor Loughlin stepping in after just 44 seconds of the third (set for 12) when Campos went down again. Taylor knows his time for fighting the top boys is coming soon. Very soon. “I couldn’t have done much more,” he said. “I found my rhythm and pace pretty early, found my range pretty early. After the first minute, minute-and-a-half, I had
sussed him out. Once I caught him, he was surprised how sharp I was. I’m happy with the performance. It’s good to finish a fight with no injuries at all – no sore hands, no sore head. So I’ll take a few days off and get back down to London and keep in shape for the next one.”
The “Tartan Tornado” is likely to be back in action on June 9, but unlikely to be fighting for a world title on that date, according to manager Barry Mcguigan, who will keep a keen eye on Jose Ramirez and Amir Imam when they fight for the vacant WBC superlightweight belt on March 17.
“As we say in Ireland, he’s a kick in the arse away from a world title fight,” said Mcguigan.
“He’s one of the best fighters not just in this division, but in any weight division, among those who haven’t yet fought for a title. We want to go down the WBC route but aren’t closing the door to any other organisation.”
While Taylor buffed up his world title credentials, the undercard also provided plenty of talking points. It was a case of déjà vu for Charlie Flynn after his rematch with Ryan Collins for the vacant Celtic lightweight title was declared a technical draw for the second time.
The first meeting between the two Scottish boxers 11 months ago at the same venue was halted when 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Flynn sustained a cut in the third round which required 25 stitches.
This time, referee Shaun Messer called a halt in the fourth round after a clash of heads left both boxers bloodied and Flynn with a gash above the same eye, leaving him to say philosophically, “That’s life, that’s boxing.” A third meeting is unlikely.
The dangers of boxing were amplified further when Edinburgh’s Jason Easton was taken to hospital for observation after he lost for the first time in 12 bouts in his vacant Commonwealth super-lightweight title fight with Glenn Foot.
In the 11th round of a brutal encounter refereed by Terry O’connor, Easton was stopped by the sturdy Sunderland man and required medical attention and oxygen before walking out the ring in some distress. After returning home, he wrote on his official Twitter account: “Very humbled by the amount of messages wishing me well! Thank you all! I’m doing good, brokenhearted but I’ll be back, that’s a promise. Congratulations to Glenn Foot – he fought a great fight. True champion.”
Northampton’s Chantelle Cameron beat France’s Myriam Dellal unanimously on points by three scores of 100-90 over 10-twos. The referee was Marcus Mcdonnell. Highly rated former amateur star Lee Mcgregor is certainly one to watch, and a man in a hurry. The Edinburgh fighter claimed an impressive second-round stoppage win (1-19) over Nicaragua’s Pablo Narvaez, while Gorbals’ Joe Ham defeated another Nicaraguan, Edwin Tellez, on points over six rounds. Elsewhere on the card, Libyan-maltese Malik Zinad took just two rounds to stop Latvia’s Jevgenijs Andrejevs. Marc Kerr from Glasgow captured the vacant Scottish middleweight title with a third-round stoppage of Edinburgh’s unbeaten Iain Trotter, and Gary Rae from Barrhead halted Hungarian Zoltan Horvath in the fourth.
THE VERDICT Taylor is just a step away from a dream world title fight.
‘IT’S GOOD TO FINISH THE FIGHT WITH NO INJURIES, TO HANDS OR HEAD’