Taylor was always massively overrated

Spence is an accurate comparison. They were both southpaws who were inexplicably tipped as p4p greats after reigning over a mediocre bunch.

Had Taylor moved up to 147 after becoming undisputed at which time Crawford was still with TopRank, he’d have suffered the exact same faith as Errol too.

 

The usual suspects always going for the low hanging fruit. Josh Taylor was an elite fighter who didn’t waste any time when he turned pro taking tough fights pretty early on I remember people picking Ohara to beat him and Taylor destroyed him. Taylor rarely took an easy fight his resume may not have a lot of huge names but he fought a lot of good opponents including Postol then went in the WBSS and fought a bunch of undefeated world champions back to back, Baranchyk, Prograis and Ramirez all tough fights that would’ve taken a lot out of him physically and mentally. He is one of only a handful of fighters to become undisputed in the 4 belt era he has had an excellent career.

 

He's declined but yeah he was always overrated.

He's a big tall 140lber who fights like a much smaller man. We see this quite often we see a tall and rangy fighter who is good in mid and close range where they are not supposed to be and people lose their objectively and only see their strengths and ignore the fact that Taylor for such a big light welter sucked from range. Bowe for example, people overrated him for similar reason, how could such a big man be so good up close and ignore he had two left feet and a defence that involved blocking shots with his face. Paul Williams was another, huge for the weight, threw a gazillion shots and was exciting but gave up his height and reach all the time.

I never saw the hype with Taylor. He does some things really nicely, the way he slips and shot and counters, usually with a hook or uppercut to the head or body. The way he creates angles to land shots at mid range. But his jab is an after thought, all his best punches are hooks or uppercuts, his straight is again like his jab a meh punch. He simply doesn't know how to fight tall or fight effectively off the back foot which given his dimensions should be a given.

His best fights were against guys that stood right in front of him and let him work. He'd come forward, give up his reach, and simply grind them down on the inside, out working them, beating them at their supposed range. But that hid the fact he couldn't fight at any other range. He was clearly taller than Essuman, Lopez and Catteral but in all 3 fights he was the one forced to come forward to have success because he can't win on the outside or on the back foot.

 

Josh Taylor is a great example of what happens to a once world class fighter if they:-

1. Fight on post prime
2. Don’t live the life outside the ring
3. Have lost motivation to train and fight and are going through the motions.

They pick up losses at a lower level than they were winning at before.

Taylor’s prime was 2019 and prior.

He should have retired at the latest after losing to Prograis.

The Catterall rematch was unnecessary as was this latest fight. If he fights on now he is just damaging his legacy and putting himself in danger.

 

What Taylor did was impressive. He didn't waste time and looked to fight the best, that's true but 140 was weak and lacking any real quality fighters. He flourished during a really weak era for the 140 division.

Postol, Baranchyk, Prograis and Ramirez that's not an impressive resume for me. They were the best Taylor had available so you can't criticise him for that but these guys were decent, solid fighters but none of them were truly elite level fighters. What did these guys achieve beyond some of them giving Taylor a good fight? They seemed to get elevating simply because they fought Taylor. Taylor was good because he beat these guys and these guys were good because they were the best fighters on Taylor resume? That type of circular thinking doesn't prove a damn thing.

Postol's best win is who? Matthysse? Er OK, so why was Postol so highly rated, one time he stepped up before that vs Crawford he was clearly shown to be many levels below elite and was dropped twice and dominated.

Baranchyk went onto lose to Zepeda a couple of fights later and then to a nobody in the next fight. So why is Baranchyk seen as a good win again? Who did he beat that made him such a worthy name on anyone's resume? There is literally not a single name on his resume that I could say was a good or decent fighter.

Prograis is probably the one fighter more overrated at 140 then than Taylor. Prograis has speed and power but that alone doesn't make you a good fighter but people only see how athletic he was and equate that to ability. He doesn't counter and is one dimensional and his style suited Taylor and despite that he was still really competitive. Haney schooled him and Catterall too beat him comfortably. People say he declined but reality is he simply fought better opposition and his flaws were exposed which is why I picked him to lose both of those fights. And again who's his best win again? Indogo, Zepeda or Zorilla not exactly a resume that screams elite to me.

Ramirez again who has he beat again? An old Postol, Zepeda? I'm not impressed. Losses to Haney and Barbosa Jr again shows he was never anything other than a decent fighter. Haney moving up and beating him along with Prograis and beating them with ease just shows how weak 140 was during Taylor's time.

Teo Lopez moving up and dominating Taylor along with Haney moving up and beating Prograis and Ramirez shows just how weak 140 was. When you have supposed 3 of the best fighters of that era getting beating easily by two guys coming up in weight, that is a clear indication that what was at 140 was not that great.

 

I think only on this Euro-centric forum, where Taylor has always been comically overrated, would people agree with that...

In the sane world no one would agree with it.

Spence was a far far better fighter than Taylor with better wins under his belt.

Truly, there is no Taylor win that is anything to write home about.

 

Even harder when you haven’t got in to bed before 5am as well

 

Taylor reminds me a little bit of Jermaine Taylor .. just fell off a cliff & could never regain that form again.. probably was a bit overrated but aren't most Fighters these days

 

No they weren't , no one thought he was better than ken Buchanan. He was considered better than Ricky burns. Prob the best modern day fighter. most thought Taylor was better than Scott Harrison. I think both are about equal.

 

Ricky burns