Taylor: My only regret is not fighting Crawford

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Josh Taylor’s only regret, after a glittering boxing career, is not fighting Terence Crawford.

Taylor did it all in boxing. Britain’s first undisputed world champion in the four-belt era, he went on an electrifying run of victories that including thrilling wins over Regis Prograis in London and Jose Ramirez in Las Vegas.

Beating Ramirez saw him unify the WBO, WBA, WBC and IBF super-lightweight championships. At the time pound-for-pound great Terence Crawford was the WBO’s world champion in the division above.

If Taylor, their ‘super champion’ at 140lbs, had moved up he could have become the mandatory challenger for Crawford at welterweight. Instead Taylor honoured his promise to give Jack Catterall a shot at his undisputed title.

“That’s the only regret I’ve got from my career. I was awarded the ‘super’ title with the WBO after I beat Ramirez and it [allowed him] to go up to welterweight to get that fight,” Taylor told Sky Sports.

“I shook the guy’s hand. There were no contracts involved,” he said of fighting Catterall.

“I could have easily went: ‘See you later, go earn your chance.’ But because he had stepped aside, because he was mandatory challenger and he allowed me to fight Ramirez first for all the marbles, so I made a deal with the guy, I shook the guy’s hand, which everybody seems to forget, and said if I win you get first shot. And that’s what happened.

“I stuck to my word. But everybody seems to forget that, especially him,” he added.

“That’s the only little regret that I’ve got. But I don’t lose any sleep over it.”

He would have like to have shared the ring with all-time great Crawford.

“I think he did a better job against Canelo than what Mayweather did. He had a fight with him. Mayweather just danced and moved and made him miss. Crawford made him miss and made him pay on multiple occasions and took the fight to him,” Taylor said.

“I would say he beats Mayweather,” he added. “I think Mayweather had the better opponents but you can only beat who’s put in front of you and Crawford did that.”

Taylor, 34 years old, had to retire from boxing in July due to an eye injury.

“It has been tough,” Taylor reflected. “I’ve had good days and bad days. The bad days have been bad, the good days have been brilliant. I’ve been so busy chasing something over the last 20 odd years, to all of a sudden have nothing to chase.

“You find yourself in the house by yourself, everyone’s working, your friends are working, your wife’s working,” he continued. “Your family’s working and you find yourself just on your own. I found it quite hard to deal with.”

He was shaken by the grim news of Ricky Hatton’s death. “It kind of gave me a wake up call and a shake. I said what am I doing, I’ve got a lot to live for,” he said. “He was my hero.

“I’ve got a lot to be proud for. I’ve had a bit of time now to reflect on my career. I’m very, very proud of what I’ve done and honoured what I’ve done. Before I never really had time to sit and reflect on it because I was involved in it so much, and always seeing what’s next.

“Now I’m sitting in my living room and I’m looking at my belts and I can appreciate it now.”

He still has the daredevil side to his character that drew him to boxing. He’s now directing that into other pursuits, especially his love of motorbikes.

“I don’t think that will ever go. I might go do another couple of skydives,” Taylor said. “The adrenalin buzz of the fight, up and down, hurting the guy, him maybe hurting you a little bit, you’re up and down and the noise of the crowd… The buzz, it’s just amazing.

“The only thing that gets close to that for me is my motorbikes. I can deal with it that way. That’s a hobby,” he added. “Unless someone wants to sponsor Tartan Tornado racing!”

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