Josh Taylor (pictured) was celebrating today after becoming Britain’s first undisputed world champion in the four-belt era.
The Prestonpans puncher is now king of the division and is Scotland’s second undisputed world champion, 50 years after his idol, Edinburgh-born Ken Buchanan.
The historic moment came after defeating American challenger Jose Ramirez by a unanimous points decision in a light-welterweight unification bout in Las Vegas.
Taylor, like Buchanan, had to travel to win and two devastating left hands played a major part in recording a 114-112 score on all judges’ cards.
Taylor ended Ramirez’s undefeated record and extended his to 18 bouts to become only the fifth man in the sport to hold all four belts in a division.
His win comes less than seven years from Taylor’s gold winning campaign at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The Scot retained his IBF and WBA titles and added the WBO and WBC belts but it was not easy for Taylor who was cut by the 28-year-old.
The steely, 30-year-old Scot, dug deep and kept his composure despite blood seeping from the wound and he the first knockdown in the first 15 seconds of the sixth round was a massive moment in the entertaining fight.
One round later and Ramirez, rated the underdog ahead of the fight, was down again following an stunning uppercut.
It was not all one way. The dogged American dug deep and caught Taylor with jarring jabs and combination punches late on and he continued to press towards the final bell.
Both men raised their arms at the end of the contest but it was the Scot who got the nod and now makes his way into the boxing history books.
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