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Taylor dismayed by lack of Edinburgh’s facilities and will to showcase his talent
PRESTONPANS is a small fishing town in its own right but close enough to Edinburgh for one of its most famous sons to claim the capital city as home. Josh Taylor’s most pressing engagement is the defence of his two world titles on Saturday against dangerous Thai Apinun Khongsong behind closed doors in London.
Should the 29-year-old Scot emerge unscathed from that one, then the tantalising possibility of a clash for all four super-lightweight belts against the American Jose Ramirez becomes very real indeed.
Taylor would love that historic bout to take place in Edinburgh but faces one major stumbling block — the city doesn’t have an indoor venue suitable to host it.
The self-styled Tartan Tornado has made the Hydro his home in recent years and would happily take Ramirez, his Top Rank stablemate, to Glasgow as he bids to become Scotland’s first undisputed world champion since Ken Buchanan almost 50 years ago.
But it evidently rankles with Taylor that he is being denied his dream of making a career-defining evening happen on his home patch.
‘It would be brilliant to have the Ramirez fight in Edinburgh but at that time of the year where is it going to be?’ asked Taylor.
‘I’ve no problem with having fights in Glasgow as I love the people there and I’ve always had a warm reception. But ultimately you want to fight in your home city if you can and I’m an Edinburgh boy.
‘Edinburgh is the capital city and for it not to have an arena for major indoor events is an absolute joke. It’s terrible. They’re doing far too many student accommodations all over the place, rather than building the city for the people.
‘They’re doing up Meadowbank but at the back end where the velodrome was they’re building more accommodation.
‘That bit of land was huge and could have been a big indoor arena. I want to have these big nights in my home town but it’s just not possible at the moment. If I do get these big fights, they’ve got to happen in Edinburgh. If we had an indoor arena there would be no issue at all.’
The alternative would be an outdoor event in the summer when the weather, in theory, ought to be more appealing. While Hibernian have made encouraging noises about holding a bout at Easter Road, Taylor is disappointed with the lukewarm response so far from Edinburgh Castle.
‘The Castle people have been pretty quiet about it,’ he revealed. ‘We could have potentially one of the greatest Scottish sporting moments in history taking place and you would think
Edinburgh Castle and
Historic Scotland would be jumping at the chance to do something like that. So it’s quite frustrating.
‘Hibs seem to be more up for it. We could get 20,000 at least in there and it would be amazing. But the feedback from the Castle has been pretty cold, which is a shame.’ If Taylor can persuade Ramirez and Top Rank boss Bob Arum to come to Scotland this winter, the Hydro looks like being the only suitable venue, ideally with fans there to watch him potentially make history. ‘One of the reasons I signed with Top Rank was because having big fights in Scotland was on the table,’ he added. ‘I told them I didn’t want my only option to be in America. I wanted to have fights as well in Scotland. They agreed to that and seem to be sticking with it. If it’s going to be in Scotland at the later end of this year it would have to be the Hydro.’
Of course there will be no Ramirez fight at all should Taylor lose his belts this weekend in his first bout since defeating Regis Prograis last October. And he warned of Khongsong’s threat.
‘A lot of people seem to be writing him off — I think me and my team are the only people who aren’t,’ he said. ‘If I get it wrong, I won’t be having any of these big fights ahead. I have to make sure I do a professional job against Khongsong.’
‘IT COULD BE POTENTIALLY ONE OF THE GREATEST SCOTTISH SPORTING MOMENTS... YOU’D THINK THEY WOULD JUMP AT THE CHANCE’