Josh Taylor: Is His Career Over?

Josh Taylor said today that the reason he decided to move up to welterweight for his fight against Ekow Essuman on Saturday, May 24, is because he has nothing “left for me to do.” He mentioned that he’d won all four belts at 140, which is true, but he failed to consider his recent consecutive losses.

(Credit: Queensberry/Leigh Dawney)

Do-or-Die for Josh Taylor

Taylor (19-2, 13 KOs) is coming into his fight against the domestic-level Essuman (21-1, 8 KOs) in a do-or-die career situation. Losing to the 36-year-old Essuman would be a clear signal that Josh’s career is over.

Taylor-Essuman will meet in a 10-round contest this Saturday at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. The Scotland-born Taylor will have the Scottish crowd eating out of his hand, but that might not matter. Taylor looks like he’s fighting at roughly 60% of the capacity he had during his best years of his career. That might not be enough for even a low-level opponent like Essuman.

“At 140-lbs, what else was there left for me to do? I’d completed boxing in a sense and won every belt in boxing you can win,” said Josh Taylor at today’s final press conference for his fight against Ekow Essuman. “What else was there for me regarding challenges, setting new targets? There was nothing to do. So, what there was, was moving up with an assault on becoming a two-time, two-weight world champion.”

Taylor’s excuse for moving up to welterweight is weak. Instead of just saying, ‘I’m moving up because I’m desperate. I lost my last two fights, and I’m not good enough to beat the killers at 140,’ he should have said, ‘I’m moving up because I’m desperate. I lost my last two fights, and I’m not good enough to beat the killers at 140.’ Choosing an easy mark like Essuman is a backdoor strategy for Josh to try to position himself for a payday against Conor Benn, Devin Haney, or Ryan Garcia.

However, none of those guys will bother with Taylor unless he beats someone solid like Shakhram Giyasov, which he won’t do. His promoter isn’t going to put Taylor in with a talent like that and watch him get finished off. Heck, he might not even make it past Essuman.

“I am planning on taking this guy out on Saturday, and that is what I’m going to do,” said Taylor.