Taylor told he has to give maximum respect to Ohara

BARRY McGUIGAN has warned Commonwealth champion Josh Taylor to give Ohara Davies all due respect when he makes a second defence of his super lightweight title at Braehead Arena this weekend. However, the legendary former world champion believes his undefeated 26-year-old Edinburgh boxer is in prime condition — and ready for the task ahead. ‘For all his shenanigans outside the ring on Twitter, you need to have respect for Davies,’ said McGuigan in reference to the war of words that has been conducted between the two men on social media. ‘It’s going to be a tough fight and a tester for Josh, but his preparations have gone great and he’s in excellent condition. ‘We really put him through the grinder in 34 degrees on the hottest June day Britain has had since 1976. ‘He was blowing after seven rounds but we kept him in the ring for four more because we wanted to show him what is involved in championship boxing when you move up a level. ‘He had to suck up a couple of very heavy sessions. But it was important to step up his level of sparring because he’ll be learning in this fight and he was able to tough it out without being blown away by much bigger guys. ‘The truth is super lightweights can’t last against him because he’s too severe on them. But he needs to be strong and have real stamina because the likelihood is this fight will go late, so he needs to be able to keep firing. ‘All his sparring partners say he’s a machine, banging, banging, banging. But he also has to learn not to unload too much early on and pace himself. ‘He’s only had nine fights after all, so he is having to absorb a lot of information in a short period because he’s going to have to beat guys like Davies if he wants to go to the top.’