Josh Taylor

Josh Taylor (born 2 January 1991) is a Scottish professional boxer. He is a unified light-welterweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, and Ring magazine titles since 2019. At regional level, he held the Commonwealth light-welterweight title from 2016 to 2017. As an amateur, he won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and gold at the 2014 edition.

As of November 2019, Taylor is ranked as the world's best active light-welterweight by BoxRec and second by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB). He is also ranked as the world's tenth best active boxer, pound for pound, by the TBRB. With 12 of his 16 wins coming by way of stoppage, he currently has a 75% knockout-to-win ratio.

Taylor was a junior taekwondo champion, and turned to boxing at 15. He spent a short time at Meadowbank ABC and then moved onto Lochend ABC under coach Terry McCormack of Edinburgh. Taylor won a silver medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where he was beaten by Thomas Stalker in the lightweight final by 11–3.

Following the European Qualifying Event in Trabzon, Turkey, the ACB Lochend boxer qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, losing to number two seed Domenico Valentino in the round of 16. Taylor became the first lightweight Scottish boxer to qualify for the Olympics since Dick McTaggart, who won a gold medal in Melbourne in 1956and a bronze in Rome at the following games.

He reached a Commonwealth Games final again in 2014, this time at light-welterweight. Taylor won the gold medal, defeating Junias Jonas of Namibia in the final. Taylor also represented the British Lionhearts at the World Series of Boxing.

Taylor started his professional career in June 2015, signing with Barry McGuigan's Cyclone Promotions, and is trained by Shane McGuigan. Taylor made his debut in July 2015, defeating Archie Weah with a second round technical knockout (TKO).

In his seventh fight, Taylor picked up the Commonwealth light-welterweight title by beating Dave Ryan with a fifth-round stoppage. Ryan went down twice over the course of the bout. Ryan had previously held the title between 2014 and 2015. Taylor won his first seven fights by knockout (KO). His KO streak came to an end against Alfonso Olvera, who went eight rounds with Taylor at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on 28 January 2017. Taylor won the fight by unanimous decision (UD) with scores of 79–72, and 78-73 twice. On 24 March Taylor defended his Commonwealth title for the first time, beating Warren Joubert with a sixth-round TKO, after hurting him several times with left hooks. Joubert went down in round six and his corner threw in the towel.

Taylor vs Davies

On 8 July Taylor faced WBC Silver champion and fellow unbeaten prospect Ohara Davies. The two had previously taunted each other on Twitter. Taylor would also be defending the Commonwealth title. He stopped Davies, dropping him once in round three and twice in round seven before the referee halted the contest.

Taylor vs Vázquez

Taylor defended his WBC Silver title against former lightweight world champion Miguel Vázquez on 11 November at the Royal Highland Centre. Although Vázquez' style seemed to pose problems for Taylor in the early rounds, Taylor wore him down as the fight went on. Vázquez went down in round nine from body shots, and he failed to beat the count. This was Vázquez' first stoppage loss.

On 18 January 2018 it was confirmed that Taylor would defend his WBC Silver light-welterweight title against veteran Humberto Soto on 3 March 2018, at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. On 24 February 2018 it was revealed that Soto had sustained an injury whilst training meaning he had to pull out the fight. On the same day, Winston Campos was announced as his replacement.

Taylor vs Postol

In June 2018, Taylor fought former WBC light-welterweight champion, Viktor Postol, gaining a UD win in a twelve-round fight, meaning that he was placed in the mandatory position to fight WBC light-welterweight champion, José Ramírez. The fight took place at the SSE Hydro, Glasgow.

World Boxing Super Series

On 30 June 2018, it was announced that Taylor would join fellow light welterweights Ryan Martin, Terry Flanagan, Regis Prograis, Eduard Troyanovsky, Anthony Yigit, Ivan Baranchyk and WBA champion, Kiryl Relikh in the eight man tournament.

Taylor vs Martin

At a gala held in Moscow, Taylor selected to fight Ryan Martin in the quarter-finals. Taylor dominated the fight with Martin throwing few punches. In the seventh round, Taylor landed a flurry of punches that staggered Martin which resulted in referee Victor Loughlin stopping the fight.

Taylor vs Baranchyk

Taylor won his first world title, the IBF light-welterweight title, by UD against Ivan Baranchyk in Glasgow on 18 May 2019. Taylor scored two knockdowns in the fight.

Taylor vs Prograis

Taylor won a unification bout against WBA (Super) light-welterweight champion Regis Prograis by majority decision (MD) in the final of the World Boxing Super Series at The O2 Arena in London on 26 October 2019. The fight was shown live on Sky Sports Box Office. Two judges scored the fight 117–112 and 115–113 in favour of Taylor while the third scored it a draw at 114–114. Taylor lifted the Muhammad Ali Trophy as the winner of the 2018-19 World Boxing Super Series – Light-welterweight division along with the vacant Ring magazine title.

Taylor has been a supporter of Hibernian F.C. since he was a child.

In December 2019, Taylor was arrested and charged with behaving in a threatening or abusive manner due to an incident whilst partying in Edinburgh. After being asked to leave a nightclub, he said a bouncer's "nose ring is gay", and referred to the bouncer as a "gay-looking cunt" and a "big orange-looking cunt". Taylor later pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and was fined £350. He said on Twitter afterwards, "I whole heartedly apologise for my stupid actions. It has been a rollercoaster of a year for me, becoming unified world champion and on this occasion I've taken it too far."