Joshua James William "The Tartan Tornado" Taylor: can anyone survive whirlwind of Prestonpans' path?

I'm not sure there is a suitable challenge in his own weight class (both Rougarou and JCR have tried & failed, and the likes of Chon or Browny aren't going to succeed where they failed), and nobody I'd favor over him in either of the adjacent ones. Yes, that means I would pick TTT over Bud, Spence, Ugás, and Ortíz at 147lbs as well as Tank, Haney, Lomachenko and GKJ coming up from 135lb. And no, I don't make that statement lightly.

The last time he tasted defeat, near as I can tell, is versus Almasbek Älibekov in the Britain vs. Kazakhstan invitational, over 7¾ years ago. That was during a run in the amateurs he claimed exceeded 150 bouts (although we have officially documented record of about half that many, with him victorious in just over two-thirds of them). So he was hardly some Loma-esque immortal among the simonpures. By his entry into the pro ranks, though, he certainly had coalesced into a formidable blend of precision & power that nobody thus far has been able to solve for.

FFS, the man has barely ever lost more than a handful of rounds. Baranchyk, Prograis and Postol each nicked a couple, and even Ramírez (whom the judges would have seen deserving of a draw if not for the pair of knockdowns he suffered - which pretty much all of us in the RBR bar Olu found utterly ludicrous) in fact lost 119-107 on my scorecard.

On top of being a tall (and he'd even be tall for a welter, let alone LWW), skilled, fast, high-workrate southpaw who can slam like a Mack truck... he, almost unfairly, also has the ability to switch-hit very smoothly. He doesn't pull this one from his tool belt as often as does, say Terence Crawford, but he nearly rivals the Nebraskan in that department.

Next up is countryman and fellow unbeaten southpaw Jack "El Gato" Catterall and honestly - this cat from Lancashire is nine lives' worth of doomed. TTT is going to snatch him up and spin him like a lone mateless sock floating in a washer/dryer.

Given what a weak shitshow 154lbs is, and his aforementioned height and to date unimpeachable chin - I wouldn't put it past the Scotsman to wind up collecting belts as high as there. Middle is (probably) a bridge too far, but think about the statement that is! You need to skip over two divisions to find a case where he's the clear underdog.

IMO he mightn't end up losing in or near his prime.

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Seriously, all due respect to Catterall, who isn't actually half bad...

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Those believing this will be competitive are in for a rude awakening. It'll have been a while since you beheld any world ranked undefeated contenders getting trounced quite as severely.

 

A somewhat younger Crawford, maybe. Now that he's 34, however, and slipping enough that he was actually still down to Porter on my card as of the stoppage? ...different story.

 

Damn it, NOOOOOOOO!

It turns out he's a vocal anti-vaxxer/anti-masker?! Wtf, no! Why can't we have nice things???

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Not just one Tweet either...he likes and RT's a load of conspiracy theory rubbish. Mother****ing damn it!

Oh well. Still can appreciate his in-ring talent. Just wish he'd STFU with this irresponsible messaging on his growing social media platform.

 

Exactly. Even if half his fans agree with those sentiments, he's just upsetting the rest and making himself a lightning rod for controversy and accomplishing what by it? Nothing.

 

I'm quite a big fan of Matías, Prograis and Zepeda but wouldn't put a dollar on any of them versus TTT. Ponce has faced pretty much domestic opposition aside from Mueller and Ritson, no? This would be a Homer Simpson jumping over Springfield Gorge leap in class for him.

Spence and Crawford both had their unbeatable auras shattered by Porter, whom I rate, but if he could do that well against them (114-113 Spence, and 88-83 Porter through 9 were my scorecards) I see no reason a younger and more well-rounded Taylor couldn't defeat either...and in fact no reason to not expect him to.

Boots and Vergil would be the best hopes at WW, but they are the least proven on that elite tier.

Lubin would actually be the shorter man (and Charlo just an inch taller), and I can see Taylor's frame at 154lb being filled out in such a way that he'd be stronger than even at 140.

 

I'd remained blissfully ignorant somehow.

Well hopefully @CST80 is right and he's just frustrated with firm lockdown measures...but Josh also liked some memes implying that masking is actively harmful, which - yikes.