By Stewart Fisher
JOSH Taylor bids to pen a spectacular new chapter of his absorbing life story in seven days’ time when he takes on Regis Prograis of the USA in an eagerly anticipated super lightweight unification bout at the o2 in London. So it helps that he has already sketched out a few drafts of precisely how he sees the plot line developing
As a teenager, the future Tartan Tornado had a fixation for writing premonitions such as ‘Josh Taylor, Future World Champion’ on scraps of paper and it is a habit which he continues to this day.
Having achieved the IBF belt in dramatic circumstances against Ivan Baranchyk of Belarus at the SSE Hydro, on paper at least now Taylor van visualise himself unifying the division against WBA champ Prograis before taking down WBC and WBO holder Jose Ramirez to become undisputed world champion.
In doing so, he would continue to follow in the footsteps of his idol and friend Ken Buchanan, who defeated Ruben Navarro in Los Angeles in 1971 to add the WBC title to his WBA crown.
“I’ve done it for years, I think I was just drumming it into my own consciousness,” said Taylor. “And I still do it to this day.
“It is stuff like ‘Josh Taylor, World champion’, ‘Josh Taylor, future world champion’, ‘Josh Taylor, unified world champion’. That is what it has become now.
“So of course it isn’t job done yet for me,” he added. “Obviously, my main objective has been ticked off, to be world champion.
“I put pressure on myself to get there, to do it. Now I have got there it is a huge relief, a lot of pressure off my own shoulders.
“But now is a time to set new targets, and obviously the next one is to unify the division and the next goal after that would be to become undisputed world champion by landing those other two belts.
“You never know with the politics of boxing but hopefully a fight like that [against Ramirez] would be easy to make.”
With the Ring magazine belt and the Muhammad Ali Trophy of the World Boxing Super Series also on the line on Saturday evening, a bumper fight night for Scottish boxing to be screened pay per view on Sky Sports is enlivened by the fact Ricky Burns will take on Lee Selby on the undercard.
At one point slated to be potential opponents in the super lightweight ranks, Taylor feels honoured to be sharing a bill with the three-time World Champion. While there has been uncertainty over the fight cause by Joseph Parker pulling out of his heavyweight contest with Derek Chisora due to illness - his place has now gone to David Price - Taylor reckons Scottish fight fans from the east and the west will travel in numbers south of the border and make common cause to roar both men on in Greenwich.
“I’ve got tremendous respect for Ricky,” said Taylor. I’ve always got along with him really well, there has never been any beef between us.
“When I was younger coming through I was shouting his name out, purely because it would have been a great fight for Scottish boxing,” he added. “It would have been a great fight between the two of us, I wasn’t having a dig at him or anything like that.
“I am not sure exactly how many will be there, but I can see a big Scottish crowd coming down. It will be good to be sharing a bill with Ricky and I am sure that my fans and Ricky’s fans will be supporting the two of us.”
Meanwhile, Prograis insisted there was never any question of him ducking his first ever fight outside the US, despite his manager Lou Di Bella previously claiming to have withdrawn his man from the WBSS.
“There are too many things on the line for me not to want to fight,” said this New Orleans native. “For me, there was no way I wasn’t going to come here. I came three weeks early to get fully adjusted. I am taking nothing for granted.”
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