Josh Taylor has provided a conclusive answer as to whether or not he will move up in weight, following his defeat to Teofimo Lopez this past weekend.
In his first outing since a controversial win over Jack Catterall last February, Taylor had his WBO light welterweight world title pried away by Lopez, who put on one of the best performances of his career thus far at the Hulu Theatre in Madison Square Garden.
Speaking to Boxing News following the loss, Taylor revealed his time at 140lbs had now come to an end and he would finally be making the move up to welterweight.
“By the championship rounds I had zero energy left. I was fit enough, I was in impeccable shape but I was just exhausted.”
“I think my days at 140 are well and truly finished. I’ve been knocking on the door of moving up for the last couple of years, and I think I’ve just been to the well too many times at 140.”
“I’ll be moving up to welterweight for the rest of my career now, that will be much more comfortable.”
There had been speculation that Taylor would move up in weight following the Catterall fight, with many attributing his sub par performance that night to repeatedly having to make the gruelling cut down.
‘The Tartan Tornado’ may now be regretting hanging around at 140, as he would be in a much stronger position at welter if moving up as an undefeated world champion.
Like many others in that division, the Scot’s eyes will now be on the undisputed world title clash between Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford next month, and the potential fragmentation of the belts thereafter.