Josh Taylor will face Ekow Essuman tonight in a fight that is make-or-break for his career.
Josh Taylor has had a huge fall from grace in recent years. After becoming undisputed against Jose Ramirez, Taylor faced Jack Catterall. He won on the scorecards, but lost in the eyes of many.
That fight caused much backlash for Taylor, who has gone on to lose his next two fights, one against Teofimo Lopez and another against Catterall in their rematch.
With two, arguably three, consecutive losses, Taylor’s next fight is one he simply must win, though it was years ago when Taylor came close to defeat for the first time.
Josh Taylor was almost beaten by Regis Prograis in 2019
In 2019, Taylor came razor-close to tasting defeat for the first time against an undefeated Regis Prograis.
Taylor was 15-0 when he faced 24-0 Prograis in the finals of the World Boxing Super Series super-lightweight tournament.
The fight involved much back and forth, and the scorecards after 12 rounds varied substantially.
Whilst one judge saw Taylor clearly winning 117-112, another had it a draw, 114-114.
The third and final judge had it 115-113 Taylor, meaning ‘The Tartan Tornado’ scraped a win by just one round.
It was the first time Taylor, who was close to signing with Eddie Hearn, had won by anything other than a stoppage or a unanimous decision, the only other time since was his highly controversial win over Catterall, who lost to Arnold Barboza Jr. in his last fight.
One fight later, Taylor destroyed Apinun Khongsong.
Ekow Essuman put on a Fight of The Year contender last year
Taylor’s opponent, 21-1 Ekow Essuman, has lost just once, to Harry Scarff. In his next fight after that loss, Essuman faced 10-0 Owen Cooper for the WBO European title.
The fight was a thrilling one, with Cooper down in the sixth and Essuman down in the ninth.
It was only in the final round when it became clear who would come out on top, as Essuman landed a pulverizing combination on Cooper that left him down for the count.