Josh Taylor brushes aside American to progress to Super semis
JOSH Taylor’s dream of unifying the super- lightweight division moves another step closer. In despatching previously unbeaten American Ryan Martin at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow inside seven rounds last night, the self- styled Tartan Tornado advanced to the semi-finals of the World Boxing Super Series where Ivan Baranchyk and his IBF belt now await.
Should he progress beyond that fight, he will take on either Regis Prograis or Kiryl Relikh in the final for that belt, the WBA title and the Muhammad Ali trophy.
With Taylor already installed as mandatory challenger for Jose Ramirez’s WBC belt, the 27-year-old is now looking at the possibility of becoming the undisputed super-lightweight world champion after only 17 professional fights. It has been a staggering rise to prominence.
He made light work of seeing off Martin who arrived in Glasgow for only his second overseas fight with a record of 22-0 but rarely looked capable of troubling Taylor. The Scot’s promoter and manager Barry McGuigan had earlier in the week hailed his man as “the best 140lb fighter in the world” and with every fight Taylor moves a step closer to proving him correct.
“It was alright wasn’t it?” said the man from Prestonpans at the end, barely a bead of sweat on him. “I told you nobody would beat me in the Hydro. These are the best fans in the world. I’m coming into my prime years now. Nobody is going to stop me winning this. It’s coming back. We’re bringing the title back to Glasgow.”
Taylor was the more aggressive throughout the contest against a sur- prisingly lacklustre Martin who could have no complaints had the judges scored every round to his opponent.
The Scot landed a number of solid body shots in an otherwise cagey first round as Martin seemed content to size up his opponent.
Taylor demonstrated greater variety in the second round, trying to surprise the American with a couple of uppercuts that landed but without doing any lasting damage.
With Martin happy to keep his guard high and look to land an occasional counter punch, Taylor was constantly on the move looking for a new angle of approach to find a way through. The fight finally opened up a bit in the fourth round, with Martin belatedly showing some ambition. Any time he came forward, however, it just presented an opening for Taylor to rattle out some quick-fire combinations.
He was looking increasingly comfortable in front of a surprisingly subdued Hydro crowd, demonstrating his dexterity as he bobbed and weaved around the rare Martin counters. The persistent Taylor onslaught had taken its toll by the sixth round, with the American requiring treatment from his corner to a cut above his left eye.
It was all over in the next round. Martin complained that the decisive shot had been to the back of the head but as Taylor moved in to fin- ish the job, referee Victor Loughran decided the American had had enough and called it off.
Earlier, No 1 seed Ryan Burnett lost to former four-weight world champion Nonito Donaire in their Super Series bantamweight quarterfinal. An even, lively fight in the opening three rounds took a dramatic turn in the fourth when Belfast fighter Burnett seemed to overstretch with an ambitious right hand shot and fell to his knees in pain, clutching his hip and lower back.
Burnett laboured through until the end of the round before retiring on his stool, earning his Filipino opponent a semi-final place as well as the WBA and WBC Diamond belts.