Taylor flies under the radar despite title belts galore
Is Josh Taylor the most under-appreciated sportsperson in the country?
The 31-year-old from Prestonpans beat Jose Ramirez in Las Vegas in May last year to become the first British undisputed champion in the four-belt era. That triumph marked him as just the fifth man to hold all four belts simultaneously (World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, International Boxing Federation, World Boxing Organisation – in addition to his The Ring lightwelterweight title) , and made him Scotland’s second undisputed champion after Ken Buchanan, who has cast-iron legend status in British sport.
And yet… you would imagine Taylor could have a fair shot at walking down Oxford Street unbothered by the public, and he rarely figures in conversations about the greats of British sport.
So why is he not more of a star? A film tonight explores Taylor’s life and career to date, and presents a driven, thoughtful, humble guy with good family and friends around him. Hard-working, community-minded, handsome. You would think he should be
flogging everything going. As contributor Carl Frampton says: “People in the UK see AJ [Anthony Joshua] and [Tyson] Fury as the top fighters in the UK but what Josh has done surpasses anything they have done put together.”
Perhaps it is indicative of the gap between his clout in his native country and the rest of the UK, but Josh Taylor: Portrait of a Fighter is showing just on BBC Scotland, as opposed to nationwide BBC. However, it can be watched on iplayer and it is well worth it.
The film follows Taylor four months ago as he gets ready to fight Jack Catterall in Glasgow and it is
both unfortunate and in keeping for this under-heralded fighter that it showcases his least convincing performance to date. Experts and fans alike were stunned that Catterall, from Chorley, lost by split decision, having outboxed and out-landed Taylor. Frampton said at the time: “The wrong man got his hand raised.” Promoter Ben Shalom concurred: “I love this sport and we try to keep our integrity, but tonight is really difficult. I’m not just embarrassed, I’m really angry.”
The film is directed by Tom Magnus, who made a decent series for the BBC about Barry Mcguigan and his stable of boxers, and is produced by Ad Hoc films, who made Eric Cantona’s The United Way last year. We follow Taylor to Vegas for a training camp where he pals about with fellow Scot Martin Compston (luckily, no singing in this one for Martin). The Line of Duty actor says of his friend: “He’s got a great heart but he is a bit of a madman” and cautions him: “Anything will be used to batter you over the head.”
For sure, Taylor has had the odd controversy. Overlooked for a BBC award last December, he tweeted: “You can shove your sports personality of the year up your –” well, you can guess the rest. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and was fined £350 for calling a nightclub bouncer a c-word with a side order of homophobic and racist abuse. Unpleasant, sure, but he is hardly the first fighter to get himself in trouble outside the ring.
Taylor has said he wants to step up from 140lb and become a unified champ at two weights. That truly would be unprecedented. “I want to be remembered as a fighter who took on all comers and gave it his all,” he says here. You would certainly hope so, and perhaps, one day, a fair bit more besides.