Taylor: I’m going to tell my hero Buchanan, I’m just like you now
undisputed super lightweight world champion Josh Taylor says he can’t wait to touch down in Scotland so he can visit hero Ken Buchanan and say: ‘I’m just like you’.
The 30-year-old Prestonpans fighter follows in the footsteps of Edinburgh’s Hall of Famer Buchanan in becoming only the second Scot ever to achieve such a feat – exactly 50 years after Buchanan, now 75, became undisputed world lightweight champion with success over Ruben Navarro in Los Angeles in 1971.
However, Taylor’s unaninew mous victory in Las Vegas over the previously undefeated Mexican-american Jose Ramirez also places him in another lofty bracket as the first British boxer to clean up any weight division in the four-belt era and, only the fifth fighter in the world to have done so.
“Ken just gave me so much inspiration to do this,” Taylor said. “I met Ken at Lochend Boxing Club and since then he’s given me little bits of advice on how to train and how to dedicate myself to sport.
“He saw me boxing a couple of times as an amateur, hitting the bags and sparring and he always said I could become world champion and I’ve proven him right. I’m just like him. I’m so proud I can go and see
him now when I get back home with all the belts.
“He’s an absolute legend. See you soon, champ. What an inspiration you have been to me since I was 18 years old. I’ve done it just like you!”
Taylor said the biggest night of his life at the Virgin Hotels resort was a culmination of 15 years of relentless grafting.
“I’ve trained my whole life for this,” he said. “I’ve dedicated my whole life for this moment. I’ve dreamt of it so many times over. I’m so, so happy. I’m over the moon. I’ve got nothing but love for Ramirez.
“I thought the scorecards (114-112) were a little tight. I thought they were a lot wider than that. I wasn’t too happy with the selection of the judges, but I wasn’t going to moan. I was confident in winning this fight anyway.”
Taylor could now be set to fight Chorley’s Jack Catterall, who had been the mandatory challenger for the WBO belt that Ramirez put on the line, but he is eager to create more history and is considering moving up the weight
divisions to take on Terence Crawford, the American who has held multiple world championships in three weight classes.
“We will see what comes my way, I am not going to be short of options,” Taylor said. “Every fight is going to be huge. I will just ride the wave.”
Taylor, meanwhile, has not fought in Edinburgh since defeating Mexico’s Miguel Vázquez at the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston in 2017 and would love to stage a big contest in the capital.
He has long nurtured an ambition to fight at Edinburgh Castle but the lifelong Hibs fans would also fancy Easter Road. “I’ve not boxed in my home city for a few years so I would love to take a big fight back to Scotland. Now is the time to get that fight at Edinburgh Castle or Easter Road.”
Taylor added: “I still don’t feel I have reached my full potential. Until I feel I don’t think I could do any better, I am going to keep going and going. I am hungry for more.”