Taylor right to put it all on the line

AS a fighter’s career progresses, there are signposts along the way, fights that really matter – acid tests, if you like.

Tonight at the Braehead Arena, in Glasgow, Josh Taylor faces a big challenge, in defence of his Commonwealth super-lightweight title, against an unbeaten prospect, like him.

Ohara Davies is 15 and 0, with 12 of those wins inside the distance. Taylor (above) has had only nine fights. It’s a risk, but that is precisely the point.

This should be happening more often. Talented fighters should be putting records on the line instead of waiting.

By not doing so, boxing allows other combat sports, like UFC, to catch up, rolling out contests of real consequence between their rising stars. If Taylor wants to get to the top, he has to meet these guys at some point anyway and win.

Though he’s relatively inexperienced in pro terms, Taylor had more than 200 amateur bouts compared to Davies, who had barely 20 before turning over.

So he gained a level of experience, travelling the world, fighting elite amateurs. Obviously, this is a different ball game. Taylor has been a pro two years. Ideally, he would have hit the 10-bout mark earlier. It took me only 10 months to chalk up that number.

These days, we just don’t have as many shows. They are more expensive to put on and – outside of TV – just not profitable, so progress is made in the gym, against good-quality opposition.

Davies (above) is a banger. He’s awkward, has a low centre of gravity, not easy to hit and physically strong. But I don’t believe he has the gears, the pace, the variety, the movement, or the speed, to beat Taylor.

The one area in which Davies might be better is in his one-shot power. And that’s part of the challenge. Can Taylor defuse that? My first big step was against Juan Laporte, who had just lost the featherweight crown to Wilfredo Gomez.

Laporte was a phenomenal puncher. He hit me with a dynamite shot in the ninth that almost took my head off.

I rode it out, came out in the 10th and took the fight away from him.

I proved to myself that I could stay in there with a world champion, take his best shots and win. This is what Taylor must do tonight. And he will.