Four belts would make Scottaylor the history man
Josh Taylor insists never in his wildest dreams did he think he would be involved in a mouthwatering undisputed world-title fight.
The 30- year-old will attempt to become the first Scot in history to hold all four belts simultaneously when he locks horns with Jose Ramirez in Las Vegas in the early hours of next Sunday morning.
Already in possession of the WBA and IBF titles, the Tartan Tornado is now desperate to rip MexicanAmerican Ramirez’s WBO and WBC belts from him when the pair clash in their eagerly-awaited super lightweight showdown.
The bout is the unbeaten Taylor’s 18th, having only become a world champion for the first time when he overcame Ivan Baranchyk in May 2019.
Despite his meteoric ascent, Taylor admits the prospect of holding all four belts is hard to comprehend.
He said: “I always knew I would be a world champion, that was my goal to become a world champion.
“You dream of these undisputed fights and dream of being involved in these fights. But do you really think it’s going to happen to you? Probably not.
“It didn’ t become a realistic goal until the Baranchyk fight was coming about, that’s when I really started gearing towards it.
“If you really asked me, I probably would not have believed you.
“On paper Ramirez is my toughest fight to date. He’s a unified world champion, 26-0-17 knockouts.
“He is the most-decorated fighter I’ve had, but I can’t see him beating me, I can’t see it at all.”
Victory would seal Taylor’s place as one of the greatest boxers in the modern era.
But the Edinburgh- born fighter would then set new goals.
Becoming a champion at welterweight, where he would have to dethrone the seemingly indomitable Terence Crawford, would be the next target.
“That’s the fights that are life- changing money and legacy fights,” added Taylor.
“I’ve never been in it for money, it’s to do what I’ve achieved but these fights are life-changing financial fights that I would be secure for life, and my family, and that’s a motivation.
“The pool of talent that’s there, I believe I can mix it with the best of them but I’m not in a rush to go up there and there are still big fights at 140.”
Speaking to IFL TV, he added: “But if I win this fight there is not much proving to do, I’ve beaten world champions, former world champions.
“Two-weight world champion, that would be the new goal.
“Crawford is struggling to get a fight at the minute and if that fight came around I’d jump at the chance.
“Undisputed against undisputed would be a huge fight to have, that would be massive as well.”