Josh James William Taylor is a Scottish professional boxer born on January 2nd, 1991.
He is the undisputed light-welterweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, and Ring magazine titles since 2019 and the WBC and WBO titles after defeating José Ramírez in May 2021.
At the regional level, he held the Commonwealth light-welterweight title from 2016 to 2017, and as an amateur, he won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and gold at the 2014 edition.
He is one of only 6 men to be a unified four-belt world champion.
With his win over Ramírez, Taylor became the second Scotsman to be an undisputed champion. Also, he was the first Brit to do so in the four-belt era.
Nicknamed “The Tartan Tornado” for his aggressive style, Taylor’s knockout-to-win percentage stands at 72%.
As of October 2021, he is ranked as the world’s best active light-welterweight by BoxRec and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), as well as the fifth-best active boxer, pound-for-pound, by The Ring, and sixth by the TBRB and the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Boxing Profile – Josh Taylor – Championship Titles Run:
Taylor vs. Baranchyk
Taylor won his first world title, the IBF light-welterweight title, by UD. This time against Ivan Baranchyk in Glasgow on 18 May 2019.
Taylor scored two knockdowns in the fight.
Unified light-welterweight champion
Taylor vs. Prograis
Taylor won a unification bout against WBA (Super) light-welterweight champion Regis Prograis by majority decision (MD) in the final of the World Boxing Super Series at The O2 Arena in London on October 26, 2019.
The fight was shown live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Two judges scored the fight 117–112 and 115–113 in favor of Taylor while the third scored it a draw at 114–114.
Taylor lifted the Muhammad Ali Trophy as the winner of the 2018-19 World Boxing Super Series; – light-welterweight division along with the vacant Ring magazine title.
Taylor vs. Khongsong
In his next fight, Taylor defended his titles against undefeated challenger Apinun Khongsong on 26 September 2020 at York Hall, London.
Taylor did not waste any time, dropping and stopping Khongsong in the first round with a body shot.
The time of the stoppage was 2:41.
Undisputed light-welterweight champion
Taylor vs. Ramírez
Taylor faced WBC and WBO champion José Ramírez on 22 May 2021, at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada, for the undisputed light-welterweight title.
Taylor knocked his opponent down twice in the sixth and seventh rounds; both times with his left hand, and cruised to a unanimous decision victory with all three judges scoring the bout 114–112 in his favor.
The result meant that Taylor became the second Scotsman to be an undisputed champion (after Ken Buchanan); the first British fighter to become an undisputed champion in the four-belt era; and only the fifth man to do so after Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor, Terence Crawford, and Oleksandr Usyk.