Is Josh Taylor still beloved by the forum?

i was never impressed with him. wasnt impressed with prograis either, so i put that win in context. not saying he sucks, but i never saw him as elite or top level..

 

Yep I felt the same way. Never got the hype, he had an entertaining style as he'd give up his height and reach and stand with guys and trade but for me that was what didn't impress me about him. Tall fighters not being able to fight tall is always a red flag for me.

Prograis too I thought was overrated. I get why people were impressed by his speed and power but his skills were rudimentary. Whenever I see a fast handed fighter I always take note of they can counter punch or not or if they are like so many other speedsters who rely on their speed alone to beat opponents to the punch and Prograis falls into that category of fast handed fighters.

As to Taylor's popularity on here. I'd assume some will have abandoned him as you always have fans who simply want to ride on the train when it's winning and get off after a few losses. But most here are hardcore fans so probably still like him, so I suspect he's still one of the more popular fighters here. But on other forums where the fan base is made up of casuals then he likely isn't as popular.

 

No most people here love winners.

Taylor did do a lot of damage with his thuggish comments and sure he was saying homophobic stuff and there is like a huge lgbtq community in this forum

 

wouldnt surprise me, lots of uk guys here, and friends of uk guys. and when youre pulling for a fighter, your judgement sometimes gets impaired. been guilty of it myself. so now i try to look at it clinically first, then decide what im gonna do with that, lol.

 

I don't know, one time he was considered the best, beating everyone and becoming legit champion.

I guess consistency is the key as a champion.



I remember when Loma was saying that Taylor would eat Lopez.

 

Taylor was an excellent fighter .. but a combination of factors has hastened his decline.. i dont think he's looked the same since leaving mcguigan .. he's slowly gone down hill since imo .. I also think inactivity and drink has done for him as well, because he clearly likes a bevvie... also, he's been hesitant to let the division go, dunno why because he's clearly outgrown it.. he looks weak at the weight, his legs are gone & he's lost that spite he once had.. say what u will but the guy still won the WBSS & became undisputed.. thats a rare club, can't take that away from him.. one thing I do know is the Josh Taylor of say 2018/19 would have beat the f*** out of Lopez..

 

Even when struggling I was impressed with his grit and determination the other night. Catterall is such a frustrating opponent with a difficult style matched with Taylor.

 

What can I say, I'm a loyal ****.

It is okay to believe in magic sometimes.

 

Taylor was indeed a very good fighter at his apex.

With the exception of Zepeda, whom I suspect he would have beaten in an entertaining fight, Taylor essentially cleaned out anyone of consequence at 140lbs. To suggest that Taylor has always been overrated is a bit of revisionist history since many here picked Ramirez to beat him.

Likewise, I think the very best version of Taylor beats the Lopez he fought in 2023.

 

He won WBSS is exciting style and went undisputed with only 20 fights or so. His resume was insane.

Going from that to his last 3 fights is a big disappointment. He still looked okay in his last fight, just needs to move on to fight against a different style.

 

Definitely not. The decline has been sharp, gave him the benefit of the doubt after the first Catterall fight as anyone can have a bad night but then you expect him to put in right in the next fight and shut the doubters up.......if anything he somehow managed to look worst. Teo took him to school. The rematch with Catterall cements his days being at the top as over.

Very good fighter in his prime, Postol-Martin-Barinchuk-Prograis whatever you think or however good you think of those 4 as fighters he fought them all in their prime back to back.

 

This is basically what I’ve been stating after seeing Taylor, Prograis and Ramirez fight other opponents. They have all looked horrible since fighting each other. That to me says that era of JWW was pretty weak.

 

Your first point mainly. This forum is extremely fickle, and so quick to rewrite history so they can downplay past accomplishments. I can’t take the hindsight bias on here.

 

He is the same as Postol. Hyped to the moon, and then quickly discarded.