This Saturday, rising Scottish star Josh Taylor (12-0-0, 11 KO’s) takes to the ring in Glasgow for a WBC World super lightweight final eliminator against former beltholder Viktor Postol (29-0-1, 12 KO’s).
On paper, it represents the toughest assignment of Taylor’s professional career to date. Ukrainian native Postol is an experienced campaigner at 140lbs with proven pedigree, having knocked out feared Argentine puncher Lucas Matthysse to win the WBC belt back in 2015.
The only loss on Postol’s record is to pound-for-pound claimant and former undisputed World super lightweight champion Terence Crawford; a fight in which he was dropped twice and widely outpointed, but gamely went the distance, the only man to do so during Crawford’s reign of terror at 140lbs.
Postol is exceptionally long and tall for his weight – he will enjoy a 5 inch reach advantage over Taylor – and a skilled technician with better power than his knockout ratio would suggest.
It is a measure of the supreme confidence of Taylor’s manager, Barry McGuigan of Cyclone Promotions, in his charge that he would agree to this match-up in only his thirteenth professional fight. Startlingly, Taylor only turned professional in 2015, just a few months before Postol dethroned Matthysse.
Hall-of-famer McGuigan, however, saw the potential of the young Scotsman from the start, stemming from a stellar amateur career which saw him compete in the 2012 London Olympics and capture gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
At his side from day one as a professional has been McGuigan’s son Shane, one of the most respected young trainers in the sport today. In Taylor, he found someone with the work ethic and willingness to learn to match his natural talent and amateur foundation, and the pairing has paid dividends in the ring.
Taylor has passed every test placed in front of him so far as a professional with flying colours. In just his seventh fight, he faced Dave Ryan, a tried-and-tested domestic level war-horse, who had previously upset Tyrone Nurse and gone to war thrice with John Wayne Hibbert.
Ryan entered the contest with a reputation for durability; he had only been stopped once in his nine losses, and that was due to a freak back injury in his third fight with Hibbert which he had been winning comfortably. An imperious Taylor destroyed Ryan, decking him twice and stopping him in five one-sided rounds.
In his tenth fight, Taylor faced fellow prospect and bitter rival Ohara Davies in a highly-anticipated grudge match. Davies had displayed impressive speed and power in ploughing through Derry Mathews in his previous fight. The outspoken Londoner had talked a good game leading up to the fight, which was seen by many as a 50:50 contest and a potential risk for both fighters at such an early stage in their careers.
Taylor made a mockery of such pre-fight assertions, as he outclassed Davies en-route to a seventh round stoppage victory – demonstrating not just precision and power but superior technique and ring-craft to the less-polished Davies; proving beyond a shadow of doubt that he was the better man.
In his next fight, Taylor faced a very different type of test. Former long-time lightweight titlist Miguel Vasquez had probably seen better years and was undersized at 140lbs, but was known for his caginess, awkwardness and penchant for ugly, fight-spoiling tactics; all of which made him an opponent it was impossible to look good against.
VazqueZ had also never been stopped in any of his five losses – all of which coming against World-class opponents. That was until he faced Taylor. A crunching right to the body – something of a trademark shot for ‘The Tartan Tornado – left the Mexican veteran on his knees and unable to beat the count.
Taylor’s journey in the paid ranks of boxing thus far stands in marked contrast to how the professional careers of certain British boxing prospects have been handled.
He has been matched tough early – but not inappropriately so.
Every step-up has represented a different type of challenge – stylistically, physically and mentally – providing Taylor with valuable learning experience on his road to the summit of the sweet science.
It is worth noting that Taylor was scheduled to fight another durable Mexican and former lightweight titlist who had mixed it up at the highest levels, Humberto Soto, earlier this year before it fell through due to an injury sustained by Soto during training.
As it turns out, Postol represents a step-up from Soto as an opponent, being younger, fresher and bigger, but with a sufficient chink of vulnerability.
The Ukrainian has only fought once since losing his title to Crawford in 2016, a ten-rounder against unknown and unproven Uzbek Jamshidbek Najmiddinov. Postol won on points, but suffered a major scare in the fifth round when he was dropped hard and nearly stopped.
It is an ominous warning sign when facing Taylor who has shown a ruthless, finisher’s instinct in the ring.
The super lightweight division in boxing is red hot at the moment.
Home to titleholders, Kiryl Relikh, Jose Ramirez and Maurice Hooker, with contenders such as Ryan Martin, Regis Prograis (the current WBC interim titleholder), Ivan Baranchyk and Anthony Yigit (scheduled to fight each other for the IBF title) also in the mix. All are in-their-prime, hungry and ready to take on all-comers.
Six of the seven are scheduled to fight in the 140lbs edition of the World Boxing Super Series – and there is a good possibility that the winner of Saturday night’s bout could join them.
Should Josh Taylor prevail and formally enter the tournament, he will be by far the least experienced man in the field when measured by the number of professional fights. But there is every chance he would be the dark horse to emerge with full honours by its conclusion.
If that were to be the case – and Taylor will undoubtedly not be looking past Postol this Saturday – it will be as much a vindication of expert career-handling, astute match-making and a willingness to take calculated risks as it will of his considerable ability.
Article by: Paul Lam
You can follow Paul on Twitter at: @PaulTheWallLam
Feature photography by: Jennifer Charlton