And fight Terence Crawford? I know he has a mandatory next but right after should he just take the Crawford fight and try to become the UK's greatest?
Honestly other than a Prograis or Ramirez rematch, what is left for him at 140? If he moves up, I would want him to fight one or two established top 10 or 15 Welters first but I think Josh will fight anybody so it wouldn't surprise me to see him jump straight in with Crawford.
Depends on his strategy going forward. Is he a risk taker or a safety first kind of guy? If he's safety first, he'll probably spend the next few years at 140, dealing with mandatories, Prograis and Ramirez rematches and maybe a Teofimo fight. If he's a risk taker he'll go straight into the Crawford fight, then go into Spence and co, and try to achieve greatness at 147 and even 154. Taylor strikes me as a risk taker, for sure.
If you knew ANYTHING about Josh Taylor then u wouldnt be asking IS he a risk taker. Have a look at who he has took on so far in his short career....how many undefeated fighters he has taken on and beaten!! Personally i feel Taylor should do 1 or 2 mandatory's to get himself a few quid and then move up. Do 1 or 2 fights at 147 and then see whats on offer. For me Crawford is a few fights down the line. It wouldnt surprise me though to read that Taylors next fight is against Crawford though....lol
No he should not take Crawford fight at 147 to become something great and well known. For legacy purpose Crawford fight does have little value because Crawford does have only 1 belt at 147 and it is what it is here. Crawford should beat Spence Jr and some other well known boxer and then such fight might be valuable for legacy. Ppl ofc might claim that Crawford is big draw in US and so great. Nothing so important for legacy if he does have only 1 belt today. He might fight his mandatory and some other boxers and actually for legacy value also does have thing how X times one had successful title defenses. Now he does have 4 belts, 2 defenses for these all belts at 140 might gave more legacy than if he beated up Crawford today. Yeah, ppl form US will post how big draw Crawford is but he today is not Undisputed at 147, he does have 1 belt from 4 most well known orgs belts and they are thinking cos sales with him in US might be good, then this means big " legacy fight ". Nope, if he really wish legacy fight today, Spence Jr will be better pickup than Crawford. Spence today does have 2 belts, Crawford 1 belt. Mandatory thing too is not worth to skip, most likely he will win this fight and no one could accuse him as duck if he doesn't fight Crawford cos this is 147 lbs division boxer. While he is with belts at 140 lbs and if he will skip his mandatory lad today, he might had been called as duck or money hungry who values money over his legacy.
He has options - if as he says he can make 140 'easily' then there will be an influx of young pups coming up to 140 in the next year or 2. Tank already fighting Barrios at 140, Lopez can't make 135 that much longer I guess, and I'm sure Haney and Garcia will be at 140 before long too. Lopez at 140 in 2022 would be a pretty big deal assuming Lopez get's by Kambosos and Taylor takes care of Catterall as his mandatory. If Josh does decide to go up, he has a couple of dilemmas - will he be frozen out from good fights at 147 like Crawford has due to Arum/Top Rank/PBC. Sure he can get Crawford maybe, but what else? If he 'acclimitizes' at 147 with 1 or 2 fights, is there a chance he misses the big names? Crawford will be 34 in September, how much longer will he fight on? Will Spence move to 154? etc etc Ramirez indicated on Twitter than he believes Taylor has mando against Catterall then moves up to 147, as that is what he would have done if he had got undisputed. I take that to mean, that's what has been agreed with Top Rank / Arum. I wonder what contract Josh signed himself up to with Top Rank, and how much control he has - sure, he got the Ramirez fight, which was his main objective, but I wouldn't trust Bob one jot if I was Josh.
Think he should take Crawford as soon as possible, preferably before Jarron Ennis might get to him. Big Josh Taylor fan and his attitude of wanting to face anybody is refreshing, would be great if he beats todays version of Crawford before Crawford gets too old or Taylor gets caught up in group of upcomers at WW.
Only real fights left for him at that weight is the Prograis rematch and if Lopez steps up. However the only fight avaliable to him if he goes up in weight is Crawford. Haymon wouldn't let his WWs near him.
For the amount of money he generates he is never going to get anyone decent in the ring. Its Spence or bums from here on out.
He needs a fight or two at 147 to adjust to the weight before he takes on Crawford. Going straight to Crawford now puts him at a distinct disadvantage.
This content is protected at 135 lbs and if he will beat Kambosos, he will be bigger draw than he is today. Why? Because Crawford does have only 1 belt! 1! Lopez already does have bunch with belts! 3 or 4 ? belts, I will lurk.
He's not going straight for Crawford.. he'll fight Caterall , probably then vacate, have a decent bedding in fight at 147 & then gun for one of the big dogs.. I ditch Arum btw if I were him.. slimy old *******