Josh Taylor thought he was on course for one of the most significant victories of his career when he fought American star Teofimo Lopez this year.
After the first quarter of their WBO super-lightweight championship fight at the Madison Square Garden Theater, Taylor felt in command.
He thought: “I’m going to stop this guy. He’s walking into what we’re going to do.
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Josh Taylor says he was far from his best and has no doubts he can beat Teofimo Lopez on another night.
“I started off really well. I came out and I sussed him out straight away. He was doing everything what we planned, what we thought he was going to do,” Taylor told Sky Sports.
“I was keeping him on the end of my jab, a couple of left hands, a couple of body shots and stuff. It felt great. It was quite easy.”
But after the fourth round, that all changed. His legs felt “gone”.
“I usually get a little bit like that in fights and [think] alright the second wind will come. But it never came, it just got worse and worse and worse,” he recalled. “He was just better than me on the night.
“If you’re not quite your best on the night you’re going to get beaten at the top level. It’s tiny margins at the top level which make the difference between winning and losing.”
The build-up to his fight with Lopez had been fraught. Taylor signed for a rematch with Jack Catterall, but sustained an injury which saw that contest cancelled.
The WBO ordered a mandatory defence against Lopez, one of the big names in American boxing after his victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko.
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Teofimo Lopez says he regrets some of the comments he made to promote the fight and apologised to Josh Taylor.
“I had to take that fight. When else am I going to get the chance to fight at Madison Square Garden? Another one ticked off the bucket list of my career to achieve,” Taylor said.
“I know I’ve taken my first loss which was quite a hard one to swallow. The only reason why it was a hard one to swallow is because I know I can perform better.
“Because I know I can perform better and be better, that was what annoyed me.”
He had to adapt his training camp around rehabilitation from his injury. Taylor is convinced that he could beat Lopez in a rematch.
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“I took the fight, I felt great, great camp, made the weight well, just wasn’t good enough on the night, that’s all. But I do firmly believe, me at my best, I win that fight all day,” Taylor said.
“I’ve got that self-belief and that self-confidence. I firmly believe that me at my best and performing at my best [against] Teofimo Lopez, I win that fight. Without a doubt.
“I still took quite a lot of confidence from that fight. I still felt I won five of the 12 rounds,” he added. “But I went out in the 11th and legs gone.
“I just battled on. You never know, you’ve always got that puncher’s chance.
“It wasn’t to be but I took a lot of confidence from it. I still did okay for the level of preparation that I could do.”
What next for Taylor
He would relish a rematch with Lopez.
“In my opinion he is the No 1 now in the 140lb division. He beat the man who was the man, who had all the belts, who was undisputed champion,” Taylor said.
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Extended highlights of Josh Taylor’s controversial split decision victory over Jack Catterall.
“He beat Lomachenko. Then he beat me who was undisputed [Taylor had to vacate three of his belts while trying to make the Catterall rematch].
“I’d love to correct that wrong and box him again,” Taylor said of Lopez.
“I would love to fight him. There’s the big one, the obvious one [Catterall] that I’d like to do as well.
“I’ll fight anybody.”
Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank which promotes Taylor, believes he can reach title class in the division above.
“I think you’ve also got to see what else happens with the welterweights. [Terence] Crawford sitting on a lot of those titles, who knows what’s going to happen with that and I think Josh fits in very nicely with his ranking and obviously his body of work for some type of title in the 147lb division,” duBoef told Sky Sports.
Crawford beat Errol Spence in their undisputed welterweight championship fight this year. They could rematch, and Crawford might move up to 154lbs.
“I can still do 140lbs,” Taylor said. “I’m big enough and strong enough for 147 as well.
“[Crawford is] unrealistic just now for me,” he continued. “Get a good fight at welter and then hopefully get in for a title shot.
Taylor is frustrated after losing for the first time
“Crawford vacating his belts and the belts all become fragmented and then I can get a shot hopefully at a title.”
Giovani Santillan, a Top Rank promotional stablemate, is ranked the No 1 welterweight contender with the WBO, where Taylor is No 5.
“That’s one that could be in house. It would be made pretty easily as well. There’s a lot of big fights out there at 140 and 147lbs. The future’s looking bright. I want to get back in as soon as possible and get the momentum going,” he said.
Most importantly Taylor needs to box regularly. He wants to return in March or April.
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“Then get out hopefully in the summer and then maybe once at the end of the year. Definitely two times next year, hopefully three,” he said.
“I’m still in this game to be involved in big fights and I believe that I still haven’t reached my pinnacle yet, even though I have reached the pinnacle of the sport. I still feel that I can still achieve more and I’ve still got more to give.
“I can do everything without restrictions now, there’s no excuse why I can’t get back to my best.”