Josh Taylor says there is a new ‘warrior king’ on the map and he’s from Bonnie Scotland.
Last night the 30-year-old became undisputed world junior welterweight champion, unifying the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO titles after defeating Jose Ramirez in Las Vegas.
Taylor twice knocked down Ramirez in a unanimous points decision victory to become Britain’s first undisputed world champion in the four-belt era.
He is also the first Scot to be crowned undisputed world champion since Ken Buchanan returned to Edinburgh from Los Angeles with two belts 50 years ago.
The boxer from Prestonpans entered the ring in the Virgin Hotel ring with the WBA and IBF titles plus the Ring Magazine belt to his name whilst the Mexican held the WBO and WBC belts.
In an enthralling fight, Taylor wearing tartan shorts, knocked Ramirez down in the sixth and seventh rounds and secured a well-deserved 114-112 verdict on all three of the scorecards.
The 30-year-old joins Oleksandr Usyk, Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor and Terence Crawford in securing a clean sweep of four belts, after only his 18th professional fight.
After the fight a delighted Taylor told ESPN: “I’m ecstatic. I’ve trained my whole life for this moment. I’ve dreamt of it so many times over. I’m so so happy. I’m over the moon. Mum, dad, Finch, Danielle I told you I would do it. All the hard work has paid off. I love you all so much.
“I have so much love and respect for Ramirez. This week there was no disrespect, it was all part of the mind games to get inside his head, to make him more eager to jump in at me and make him more aggressive and to use his aggression against him. We said that all week in the build-up and that’s what we did. I think he was a great champion and ambassador for the sport and I wish him all the best in the future.
“I thought the score cards were a little bit tight. They should have been well wider that that. I wasn’t too happy with the selection of the judges but I was so confident in winning this fight. Two knockdowns and I won most of the rounds and it was 114-112 which I didn’t think it was and it was a bit too close for my liking.
“There is a new ‘warrior king’ on the map and he’s from Bonnie Scotland. That’s the third Mexican I’ve beat in a row so there you go There’s a new warrior king and he’s from Scotland so anyone who wants to fight then ‘let’s go’
Taylor also sent a message to Buchanan: He added: “I’m just like you champ, I did it just like you. I’ll see you when I get home. You are a legend. You gave me so much inspiration, I’ll see you soon champ.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
