THE trash talking and bad blood which surrounded his last outing, the bravura dismantling of Ohara Davies at the Braehead Arena back in July, was noticeably absent. Instead, the Scottish boxer and his Mexican opponent, resplendent in a cream suit, were a model of respectfulness and good manners.
Having flown all the way from Guadalajara with his manager for the occasion, the visitors eventually made their excuses and hailed a black cab back to Edinburgh Airport for the long flight home. But make no mistake: there will be no standing on ceremony when Miguel Vazquez returns to Auld Reekie on November 11 to take on Scotland’s Josh Taylor at the Royal Highland Centre.
On the line next month will be the WBC Silver Super Lightweight belt which the self-styled Pride of Prestonpans claimed against Davies, his unbeaten ten-fight professional record, only one of which has gone the distance, and his stated aim to be competing for a bonafide world title within 12 months.
And for all the bravado of Davies, Vazquez is of a different order entirely as an opponent. Still only 30, he held the IBF World Title for all of four years, and has never been knocked out in 44 professional bouts, which include two against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and one against Tim Bradley Jnr. No sooner had Breidis Prescott taken care of Amir Khan back in 2009 than this durable little guy was beating him on points. Trash talking or not, little wonder Taylor reckons the loudest statement of all as he looks to build towards that world title shot would be becoming the first man in history to stop Vazquez within regulation.
“He has been in with some world class fighters and never been stopped,” said Taylor. “So it would be a statement and a half if I could manage to do it. That will be the aim.
“Everyone asks me if I was gutted about not stopping Alfonso Olvera in Vegas,” he added. “I was more annoyed I didn’t box the way I wanted. I was flat and didn’t get my punches off. I was more annoyed about my performance then not getting the stoppage.
“I don’t go out to knock people out, I go out to box. But I do believe in my punching power. I know if I catch Vazquez, I’ll hurt him. If I hurt him, I’ll jump on him. I will try to stop him. I never go looking for it but it would send out a message.”
Taylor, you will recall, has already made plenty of sacrifices for this fight - not least of which was a glitzy trip to Las Vegas with his pals Carl Frampton, Conrad Cummings and their partners for the recent Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather superfight. His flights and accommodation were already booked before manager Barry McGuigan told him about his imminent return to the ring and ordered him back into training camp. While he has alredy got that one Vegas fight on his resume, he is determined that his next trip to the Mecca of boxing has merely been postponed. Having been around for both of Frampton’s jousts with Leo Santa Cruz, he has a dream that his name will be up in lights one day. If he carries on at this rate, he may not have to wait too long.
“I was planning to go over with Carl and Conrad for Mayweather v McGregor and just blow off a bit of steam,” said Taylor. “But Barry phoned me and told me about this fight and I cancelled the trip straight away.
“Boxing is more important to me,” he added. “This is my life, so it was back to business, no questions asked. To be honest, I was a bit gutted, especially when the boys were tagging me in social media all the time they were there. It was a nightmare, they kept posting things like, ‘where’s Hank? [Taylor’s nickname, from a character in the film ‘Me, Myself and Irene’] ’! I had to turn it off for a few days.
“These are the sacrifices you need to make to get to where you want to go,” he added. “Vegas will always be there. Hopefully the next time I am there it will be me involved in a big fight and I can enjoy it afterwards. When I was over there in January for Carl’s fight with Santa Cruz, I remember seeing his face on the billboards outside of the MGM Grand. I was thinking that could be me one day. It’s a huge motivation.
“This fight could really open the door. I can come through I will be in the top five in the WBC rankings and banging on the door for world title fights That’s always been the dream and this is a step closer to making it a reality. I’d also love to make history to fight one day at the [Edinburgh] Castle.”
As tantalising as such dreams are, Vazquez is precisely the kind of tricky operator on the world stage who Taylor has to prove he has the answers for. Aged just 30, he is young enough to feel his time as World Champion isn’t over yet. “He’s not a typical Mexican,” said Taylor. “He moves around a lot and has good movements. I’ll need all of my attributes to get the job done. I’ll probably need to be on the front foot but it could end up being toe-to-toe. You never know until that first bell.
“Hats off to him for coming here and meeting face to face. I don’t think there’s any need for the trash-talking. It’s totally unnecessary. With Ohara, I just genuinely disliked the guy. He’s a balloon who is delusional and lives on his own planet. So I put him on my mantlepiece.”
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