WBA Super and IBF 140lbs champion Josh Taylor is just over a week away from facing mandatory challenger and Thai puncher Apinun Khongsong at the York Hall, but the Scot’s overwhelming motivation remains a unification bout against unbeaten WBC and WBO title-holder Jose Ramirez.
Ramirez has his own mandatory against WBO No.1 Jack Catterall looming, but with both champions promoted by Top Rank a unification fight seems on course for 2021, should the duo negotiate their next engagements.
Taylor, out of the ring since a thrilling, split decision win over Regis Prograis in the WBSS Final last October, feels a clash with Ramirez is as big as it gets in the lighter weights.
“It’s a massive fight. Outside the heavyweights – Joshua, Fury and Wilder – and maybe Canelo’s next fight, I think it’s one of the biggest fights in boxing. It doesn’t happen often in the game that you get a fight for all the belts,” Taylor (16-0, 12 KOs) told BBC Scotland. “I do think it’s one of the biggest fights in boxing at the minute, a mouth-watering fight. There’s only one winner though and that’s me.
“That’s why I signed with Top Rank because all these fights should be easy to make. They’ve also said fighting in Scotland is not off the table, so that’s what I want to do. To see my name in bright lights at the MGM Grand or Madison Square Garden, every fighter dreams of that.
“But having a fight at Edinburgh Castle or Easter Road [Hibernian FC’s stadium] would just be amazing for Scottish sport. Especially a fight at the Castle with that backdrop, it would be an iconic moment in Scottish sporting history.”