Scottish boxer Josh Taylor eyes world title glory in summer

Scot poised for final eliminator

Josh Taylor was in a bullish mood as the countdown to his WBC world super lightweight final eliminator fight with Viktor Postol continued in Glasgow.

The two will face each other at the SSE Hydro in the city on June 23, with both boxers keen to move on to a world-title bout should they win.

Ukrainian Postol makes the trip to Scotland looking to get back to his position of 2016, when he held the super-lightweight title before losing to Terence Crawford.

And while acknowledging his team have taken a gamble by setting up such a fight so soon in his career, Taylor is certain he will emerge victorious.

“I know what this fight means,” Taylor, who has a perfect 12-0-0 record in professional boxing, told Press Association Sport.

“I want to be world champion and Viktor Postol is standing in the way of me becoming world champion.

“I need to focus on him and make sure I get past him and get past him well and move on.

“If I don’t get past him, my dream is then a little bit further away and I’ll have to take a couple of steps back and rebuild again but that is not going to happen.

“I am going to win and I will move on and challenge for that world title.

“I am fully confident that I can beat any fighter that is put in front of me. I feel I have got youth over him, I have speed over him, I’ve got power as well and I can match him in his departments and beat him in other departments. “I feel really confident.”

Postol will be no pushover for Taylor, having lost just once – to Crawford – in his 30 fights to date.

The 34-year-old has made no secret of his desire to get back to the top of the division and claim the world title and is currently rated number one in the division.

And Taylor – who is ranked second and is the silver champion – is aware of the threats Postol poses.

He said: “He looks in great shape so he is obviously taking the fight really seriously and as he said, he is coming to get his belts back.

“I am in for a hard night’s work and I’m training for a full 12-round fight.”

Postol is preparing to fight in the UK for the first time in his career and has fought just once since his defeat to Crawford in 2016 – a 10th-round stoppage of Jamshidbek Najmiddinov last September.

But he knows he is facing someone hungry for success, saying: “When I first knew that I was going to be fighting Taylor, I told myself this guy is confident.

“He has a good rating and a lot of knockouts, so I don’t think it is a gift. It is a dangerous fight.”