Josh Taylor believes he will make an emphatic statement against Teofimo Lopez when they fight for the Scotsman's WBO super-lightweight championship this weekend at the Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York; watch Taylor vs Lopez live on Sky Sports in the early hours of Sunday morning
Monday 5 June 2023 16:31, UK
Josh Taylor is aiming to deliver a dominant performance against Teofimo Lopez, and has predicted a win by knockout to come early in the fight.
Taylor, the former undisputed super-lightweight champion who never lost in the ring, will box Lopez at the Madison Square Garden Theatre this weekend, live on Sky Sports in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Taylor believes he can stop Lopez in the early rounds of their WBO 140lb title fight.
That would be an emphatic statement against an opponent who became a three-belt unified champion at lightweight after upsetting Vasiliy Lomachenko.
A result like that would re-establish Taylor as one of the most dominant champions in the sport today.
"The way I think he's going to fight, we'll put him out of there early," Taylor told Sky Sports. "But if it goes the other way, which I think it might do as well, it'll be a boxing match, a clever boxing match but nothing that I'm going to be surprised with.
"I've watched him quite a bit in the lead up to this fight and I think I know what I'm expecting. But whatever he brings, I'm more than ready for.
"Having said that, the fighter that beat Lomachenko is the version of Teofimo Lopez that I'm preparing for; a very good fighter."
This will be Taylor's first fight with new trainer Joe McNally but the Scotsman is certain he will recover his best form after his contentious victory over Jack Catterall last time out.
"I've got - I've said it so many times - my mojo back. I feel like I've got it back. I just feel like I'm back to my old chirpy self. The way I was before in the lead up to the [Regis] Prograis fight. I feel I'm back to that kind of mentality. That sort of form as well," Taylor said.
"I wouldn't say the love for the game was lost," he continued. "I just felt like there was just something always missing, that one link missing that I was looking for that I wasn't able to get out. The full potential out of myself.
"There's none of that now. I feel like I'm unlocking my full potential and can be myself and improving as well, improving on the bits of my game that I need to improve on. I just feel like I'm firing on all cylinders."
This week in New York before the fight will also fire him up, and Taylor's war of words with Lopez has been churning for quite some time now.
"His personality is just a little bit irritating. He's said a few things about me for a couple of years now," the Briton said. "You've run your mouth for a couple of years, now you're going to pay for it.
"There will be verbal jousting at some point in fight week but at that point I'm just ready to fight you know, I don't really care about mind games and all that kind of stuff. I know I can get in his head, and I know I can manipulate him but I'm not really too bothered about it."
Fighting at Madison Square Garden has greater significance for him. While he makes the walk through the corridors to the ring, Taylor will be thinking about some of the legendary fights held at the historic venue. Most importantly, he will think of countryman, an icon and mentor for Taylor, the late, great Ken Buchanan.
Buchanan fought his most famous fights at Madison Square Garden. WBO champion Taylor will honour the Scottish great in this title defence. He said: "My fight shorts will replicate how he wore his in Madison Square Garden. He wore the Buchanan tartan, his family tartan. I'm going to wear my family tartan but in the style that he had it with a white name band and the full shorts and the tartan and the robe [in] a similar style to what he had as well. So that will be a tribute to Ken.
"He's definitely going to be there with me and it's definitely going to be a good thing to look back on in a few years' time and tell the kids and the grandkids that I did just what Ken Buchanan did."
In Scotland, after becoming the undisputed champion, Taylor brought his titles to Buchanan. "When I came back from Vegas with the belts, I said 'Look champ, I'm just like you, done it just like you.'" Taylor remembered.
"He said: 'I told you'. We sat down and had a cup of tea and spoke for a few hours in the house and unfortunately that was the last time I saw him. But that moment will be living me for the rest of my life.
"I'm very, very proud to do that."
Watch Josh Taylor vs Teofimo Lopez live on Sky Sports in the early hours of Sunday morning
