Not confident of Postol win, as I stated if the odds are in Taylor's favour I would back Postol as I see this as a close fight. Therefore the value lies with the very talented Postol. Let's face it Taylor has not been tested at professional level who knows what he's got when he's in a 12 round war and does he have the experience and bottle down the stretch? Postol (the guy who knocked out Mathheyse) is looking to rebuild after loosing a UD to P4P Crawford. Tough ask and I think the Mcguigans might be above there level here.
Could be another piece of great matchmaking here by Taylor and Cyclone. Postol ain't getting any younger, been quite inactive and could be for the taking. Credit to Taylor for taking this fight.
I'm glad it's an eliminator otherwise it wouldn't be worth it. It's a tough fight to take. If Taylor wins he deserves a chance to become world champion. He is definitely good enough . If he isn't we will find out next.
A bit more on the fight & why I am delighted with Taylor's progress, ambitions & the way he is being moved. I don't post as much as I'd like, family life takes over but sometimes in work I get more of a chance to think about fights, watch fights online & type some stuff out. When the fight was announced yesterday I was ecstatic. I had heard rumours of Ashley Theophane on June 16, I knew that Ramirez, Prograis, Baranchyk, Flanagan etc were tied up & I couldn't see Lipinets come over after a loss, plus Mikey Garcia was moving back to 135. The more I looked at the rankings the more I seen a Theophane/Lundy type opponent being brought over. For a 13th fight, that actually wouldn't have been that bad but a little underwhelming in terms of excitement but to land Viktor Postol in a final eliminator tells you a lot. First, for all the critique of the team, Cyclone Promotions continue to push and back Josh Taylor. And Taylor as a fighter deserves credit, he's top 10 with the IBF & Garcia (who Taylor wants to fight) has gone back to 135, so the IBF route is open. Bring in a top 8 opponent & win, your then in a great spot for a title shot against an almost certain unproven fighter at world level. To see Taylor/Cyclone pursue the WBC title which IMO has the greatest depth of quality fighters in it's top 10-15 & therefor will be the greatest challenge to be champion is satisfying as a fan. Postol, Taylor, Ramirez, Prograis, Broner, Figueroa, Indongo, Lipinets etc all reside in the top 10-15 in WBC rankings, Taylor might have to beat Postol followed by Ramirez/Prograis just to win a title. Compare that to Flanagan's attempt to be a two weight champ by winning a vacant title VS Maurice Hooker & an almost certain 1st/2nd defence VS Jack Catterall, it's no comparison. Ohara Davies will even remain in the WBO mix through FW, he's only won one fight since Taylor spanked him & has a TBA coming up. Regardless of how Taylor's career plays out, as a fan I'm delighted he's trying to reach the pinnacle of his division and the sport the old school, ambitious way. Fight the best, beat the best, be the best. As for the fight. Postol is going to try maintain distance by using the jab, right hand and small steps back to keep range and maybe frustrate Taylor in a trap, walk him on to right hands by making Taylor over reach and fall in. If Taylor tries to continually lead off against Postol, that might just happen. I expect Taylor to feint Postol out of position, bait him by dropping the right glove in southpaw stance, draw the lead & counter or step in. When close, I expect Taylor to work the body & pivot round Postol. Taylor may use the first 3-4 rounds (as per Davies fight) to move to his right away from Postol right hand, land some counter body shots & let Postol set the pace. Postol will be dangerous early, Taylor can switch off & get over excited, the two scenarios which leave him most vulnerable but I expect him to slow the older, shop worn Postol down by round 7-8, maybe even collect a late TKO around round 10-12. If Taylor wins this & wins well it cements him as one of the top 140's after just 13 fights, and builds nicely towards the fight I think most would like to see. Taylor vs Prograis/Ramirez, both of which would be excellent opponents and great fights. I can't wait for June 23rd.
Just took me back to the days when I used to always watch Friday Night on ESPN and Teddys breakdown before the fight !!
I like breakdown's, we don't get that over here. We get the cliches. You can learn from pre/post fight technical breakdown's, improve your knowledge. I've always loved that stuff, whether you like them or not. Atlas, Kellerman, RJJ etc like to give actual insight in to why and how fighters set up attacks and how fighters styles mesh. Doesn't mean you know everything & you get a lot wrong but you do learn, I learned more from studying film or others break it down than I did boxing. My coach literally was a get the ear muffs on type, which makes you robotic & predictable in setting attacks etc. I was better/more loose southpaw but he wanted me orthodox as I was right handed, drove me mad. I love the technical stuff, I know about 0.1% of that but I learn all the time.
Thats analysis worthy of an article pinned to the front page of the news site. Actually its better than anything I have seen on the front page of the news site for boxing news 24. Fantastic stuff. Post more, please.