TAYLOR HITS BACK IN WAR OF WORDS WITH DAVIES

JOSH TAYLOR versus Ohara Davies is, on paper at least, the real deal — a championship bout between two young, talented domestic fighters. Judging by events so far, however, tonight’s Commonwealth superlightweight contest at Braehead Arena is in danger of living up to its

Bad Blood billing. Londoner Davies, 25, has conducted a Twitter campaign designed to antagonise his 26-year-old rival from Edinburgh. Initially, the champion refused to take the bait. But eventually it became too much to ignore. Just 24 hours after Davies dismissed him and promoter Barry McGuigan as ‘bums’, the pair had to be pulled apart at yesterday’s weigh-in. The flashpoint came when Taylor prodded Davies on both cheeks with his index finger and the WBC Silver champion responded by shoving his head into his opponent’s face. Mercifully, no telling blows were landed but there were some nasty verbal exchanges between rival supporters, including former two-weight world champion Carl Frampton, a stablemate of Taylor’s. ‘When we came face to face he asked me if I was going to run tomorrow and I told him I was going to take his chin out,’ said Taylor. ‘He then said: “Don’t touch me again”, but I did and that’s when he tried to put the head on me. ‘I grabbed him by the throat and thought I was going to strangle him. ‘He’s falling apart, maybe through nerves, and that gives me confidence because I’m so relaxed.’ It went almost unnoticed that Taylor scaled bang on the ten-stone limit, four ounces heavier than Davies. Channel 5 bosses must be delighted the impending showdown has engendered such bad feeling, because what promised to be an enthralling contest is also poised to be an explosive one. ‘There’s no chance of me embracing him at the end of the fight,’ added the Edinburgh boxer. ‘Once I see him defeated, on the canvas or on points, I’ll say: “See you later”, and that will be it. ‘Usually, if boxers embrace at the end of a fight, it’s because there’s mutual respect on the basis they are genuinely nice guys. ‘But this fellow is an a*** , so there won’t even be any shaking hands. I dislike him, it’s as simple as that.’