This Boxing Game

Sunday, 5 March 2017

David Haye and Tony Bellew served up more drama than Shakespeare

In terms of drama, excitment, and raw emotion, Haye vs Bellew was a classic that will be talked about and debated for years to come. The inordinate bad blood that flowed in the lead up made the stakes involved higher than most world title fights have in recent times. That it also brought the sport into disrepute is a feeling that will not be shared by Eddie Hearn or Sky Sports given the number of PPV buys it undoubtedly generated precisely because of the bad blood and vicious pre-fight rhetoric, most of it from David Haye.

But placing that to one side for a moment, Haye proved beyond doubt that scratch the surface of the playboy image and lifestyle he is known for, you have man with the blood of a warrior flowing through his veins. The way he refused to quit despite carrying a ruptured Achilles for five rounds was unbelievable, with the sight of him hobbling around the ring conjuring the image from ancient history of a Spartan or Roman gladiator for whom death is preferable to surrender.

That said, along with the vast majority of fans, pundits, and former fighters, Haye came into the fight fully expecting to blast his opponent out of there within one or two rounds. It was evident in a performance that calls into question his future in the game. He appeared slower, more ponderous, and one dimensional than the Haye of old, loading up on wild single hooks and right hands, as if expecting Bellew to stand still and take them. It was only when he settled down after the third and started using the jab more prodigiously, particularly to the body, that he began to take the fight and his opponent seriously. He was in control of the fight up until he sustained his Achilles injury in the sxith round, pressing the action and throwing more than Bellew, whose gameplan of avoiding unnecesssary shots and taking the fight into the later rounds was working a treat. He and his coach Dave Coldwell had made no secret of their gameplan, one they'd devised in the belief that Haye would start drowning after four or five rounds. Bellew moved well for those first six rounds, consistently spinning off and away whenever Haye closed the distance. That said, the former cruiserweight and heavyeweight world champion's habit of following Bellew around the ring instead of cutting him off provided the Liverpudlian and current WBC cruiserweight champion with the opportunity to do so.

Both men started seriously gassing in the second half of the fight. Bellew came close to punching himself out trying to finish Haye in the sixth and seventh rounds, realising he was seriously injured. By this point it was only a matter of time before Bellew's hand was raised. The sixth was the most explosive of the fight, during which both fighters hit the canvas, Bellew once and Haye twice, though none were ruled knockdowns by the referee. It was now, with Haye injured, that sustained the momentum shifted decisively in Bellew's favour. From now to the end Haye was reduced to throwing the odd desperate big shot, fuelled by forlorn hope rather than serious intent. The rumours that he may have been carrying an Achilles injury in the final few days prior to the fight looked to have been true. Indeed, watching his ring entrance a second time a slight limp looks apparent as he makes his way to the ring to the trademark seventies disco classic 'Ain't No Stopping Us Now' by McFadden & Whitehead. As he did, Bellew in the ring appeared the most relaxed man in the building, taking the opportunity to have a dance as he waited for his opponent to arrive. This alone should be a YouTube classic.

Shane McGuigan was right to throw in the towel in the eleventh round after Haye fell through the ropes at the end of a Bellew combination. By now he was running on sheer will, courage, and pride, adding a tragic element to the denouement. Only the hardest of hearts could argue that Haye's warrior courage does not mitigate his distasteful rhetoric during the build-up. But as mentioned, the harsh reality is that however distasteful and vicious Haye's verbiage it sold the fight as no other fight has been sold in Britain in recent years, perhaps with the exception of the Froch vs Groves rematch. In this regard we're all culpable when it comes to a sport that all too often plumbs depths of indecency that no sport should ever be permitted to. Having made that point, however, boxing is the only sport that reaquaints us with animal instincts that have been blunted after centuries of civilisation and culture. Those instincts see the most base and virtuous aspects of the human condition laid bare, which is what makes boxing so compelling.

When it comes to David Haye the burning question has now been answered. Though he was in control of the fight before his Achilles went, he is not the fighter of old. His speed, timing, and agility even prior to the injury were noticeably diminished compared to the peak model of old. His body is now breaking down in the face of the rigours of too many training camps. Haye was never a natural heavyweight, which means that the wear and tear sustained after consistently sparring and fighting proper heavyweights has taken a grievous toll. Though along with Tony Bellew, Haye talked up the prospect of a rematch during the post fight interviews, there will likely not be a huge appetite to see one.

As for Tony Bellew, the big Liverpudlian and Evertonian has made a career out of proving the army of naysayers where he's concerned wrong. Though in defeating Haye he beat a man who was reduced to hobbling around on one leg for five rounds, Haye was gracious enough in defeat not to enter the injury as an excuse for the loss, and neither should anybody else. Haye was expected to roll over Tony Bellew in one or two rounds. That he failed to was in itself a victory for a fighter was was giving away a stone in bodyweight.

Bellew's gesture immediately after the fight was stopped in shoving promoter Eddie Hearn away in order to minister to Haye
should see him elevate to cult status even in the eyes of his detractors.

Thursday, 2 March 2017

David Haye talks and looks like a man ready for war

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At the recent Haye-Bellew press conference in Liverpool, which was open to the public, something remarkable took place. We saw Haye emerge from it as the villain while Tony Bellew found himself slotted in to the role of the good guy - the wholesome family man who unlike Haye is in boxing for all the right reasons. Now just think about that for a second. Tony 'Bomber' Bellew, a fighter who's spent his entire professional career unleashing tirades of invective at his opponents in the lead up to fights, whose every second or third word is usually an expletive, a man infamous for his bullying and intimidatory antics, suddenly this guy is being depicted as a poster boy for family values and proper etiquette.

David Haye's tirade at the presser came after he'd endured dog's abuse from a crowd that was there baying for his blood. In parenthesis, was there really any need for this particular press conference less than a week before the fight? And, if so, what were Sky and Matchroom thinking opening it up to the public? Surely this was just asking for trouble and the kind of controversy that the sport doesn't need?

Haye's reference to the crowd as "retards" earned him the kind of opprobrium usually reserved for rapists or serial killers. Yet not a peep have we heard in protest at Tony Bellew's repeated use of misogynistic language - i.e. "The Bitch from Bermondsey." In fact during Haye's speech at the podium in Liverpool, Bellew interrupted him with "You got that right bitch!"

Surely if Haye is to be hung out to dry for the crime of offensive language and bad taste, so should his opponent.

But, listen, this is boxing. These guys are ready mentally and physically and emotionally to go to war. Add to the mix the genuine hatred that they have for each other, and what do people expect?

Aside from that, the public workout both fighters had with just three days to go dispelled any rumours that Haye's been having problems with his previously injured right shoulder, or that he was suffering from an achilles problem and is on the verge of pulling out. Yet again the Haye camp has proved adept at mind games. Whether it's the footage of Haye supposedly training on a yacht in South Beach, Miami, or sitting in a Jacuzzi sipping protein shakes from a cocktail glasses, or his highly publicised visit to his doctor in Munich, they' ve succeeded in giving the impression that Haye's preparations have been less than rigorous and injury-free.

The exact opposite looks to be the case. The physical nick Haye is in, revealed during his brief public workout when he removed his T-shirt, tells its own story. He isn't carrying an ounce of extraenous weight, either fat or muscle tissue, and the snap that he's renowned for clearly hasn't deserted him either. On the contrary, Haye's never looked sharper or more focused than he does for this contest, putting his shots together with speed and fluidity. His trainer Shane McGuigan, a guy who looks like he belongs in a Harry Potter movie poster instead of a boxing gym, revealed that Haye has sparred 60 rounds with Bryant Jennings for the fight, which means he's had excellent work and ideal preparation.

Tony Bellew, meanwhile, appears a solid unit going in. He claims he's prepared for a "dogfight", while asserting that Haye no longer has the minerals for what he intends to bring. If he and Dave Coldwell, his trainer and friend, are to be believed the gameplan is to take the fight into the later rounds and drown Haye in the kind of gut-testing slugfest he isn't built or ready for.

The smart money says Bellew will be asleep long before that happens. Judging by what we've seen this week, it is hard to disagree.

Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Haye v Bellew - the countdown

With just one week to go before David Haye and Tony Bellew step into the ring at the O2 Arena in London to settle accounts in one of the most bitter grudge matches British boxing has seen in some time, the cultural and lifestyle differences between both fighters could not be more stark.

While Haye has made the luxurious environs of South Beach, Miami a feature of his training camp, tirelessly posting pics and videos of himself cavorting around a luxury yacht, where he claims he's spent much of his time training, or on the beach meditating and relaxing between sessions, or hanging out with various celebrity friends, Bellew has emphasised his working class down to earth roots, his love of family and Everton FC, while training in the cold and rain of Sheffield in the accustomed manner, suffering for his craft as he batters and bludgeons his body and mind into shape for, this, the biggest test of his career.

It has been a study in contrast that has added even more anticipation to a fight that really didn't need any, given the river of bad blood that exists between both men.

Of the two, Haye's preparations have left fans and pundits guessing. From the pictures and videos posted on social media, the impression given is that of someone who's spent the winter enjoying an extended trip to a luxury health farm, living it up at the beach and on a luxury yacht, where we've seen him sitting in a jacuzzi sipping protein shakes from a cocktail glass. The images offend the conventional and purist belief in professional boxing as an exercise in self denial, wherein success in the ring is measured by the amount of pain and hardship and suffering a fighter is able to endure. Fighters preparing for the ring, especially a fight of his magnitude, are meant to avoid luxury and comfort as a vampire avoids daylight, knowing it can only weaken the resolve, dedication, and single minded ferocity that are non-negotiable requirements of their physical and psychological makeup.

But has Haye, with the beachboy image that he's cultivated leading up to this fight, only succeeded in pulling the wool over people's eyes, engaging in the art of mind games with all his posing and cavorting in Miami? The answer is undeniably yes. Make no mistake, the 36 year old 'Bitch from Bermondsey' will have trained like the proverbial beast for this fight, using the warm weather to his advantage for the purposes of recovery and keeping his core body temperature at the optimum level when it comes to conditioning. Pics of his chiselled physique tell their own story, though Haye knows as much as anyone that what goes on inside the squared circle has nothing to do with rippling muscles and everything to do with skill, speed, power, movement, and conditioning.

On paper, in every one of those categories, Haye is superior. He's faster, hits harder, moves better, and has more variety to his game. Not that Tony Bellew is a mug. Far from it. The cruiserweight world champion is a fighter's fighter, a man who wears his heart on his sleeve and has made a habit of proving the naysayers and doubters wrong. He is as tough and as durable as they come, willing to go to places most are not in order to win. But his style could not be better made for David Haye. He stands tall, has a habit of letting his hands drop, and when the leather starts flying he often lapses into the habit of coming forward in front of his jab rather than behind it.

That said, Bellew is right in claiming that he will be Haye's toughest test in many years, something which he and Dave Coldwell, his friend and trainer, believe will be a crucial factor. Both do not believe that Haye has enough in the tank to go beyond four rounds and maintain the pace and intensity that Bellew intends to bring. They are also right in citing the fact that by the time Haye dispatched Derek Chisora in the 5th round of their clash back in 2012, he was tiring. But Haye will be coming in considerably lighter for this fight, and is clearly as motivated as he's ever been. His oft repeated assertion that Bellew will be carried out on a stretcher, as distasteful and unbecoming such rhetoric may be, is no empty boast. Haye is coming into this fight with the intention of doing damage.

What people seem to underestimate when it comes to David Haye, perhaps understandably given his love of the limelight and celebrity lifestyle, is how tough he is. Aggressive opponents such as Chisora and Bellew seem to bring out a mean side in him that contradicts the cultivated and urbane image he's gone out of his way to present over the years. In fact he appears to revel in these types of grudge matches, and despite the trash talk that comes his way when they come up, he's never phased or intimidated.

Tony Bellew's key to winning is his ability to take Haye's best shots and to keep coming forward, setting a relentless pace that his opponent isn't comfortable with. Keeping him on the back foot and finding the opportunity to fire that ferocious left hook he carries will be on his mind from the opening bell. Haye, meanwhile, will be looking to employ lateral movement to nullify Bellew's pressure, looking for angles and gaps, of which he and McGuigan are confident will be plentiful.

Haye's power, how Bellew copes with it, will be the most important single factor in determining the outcome to proceedings on March 4. If Haye starts firing and Bellew doesn't go anywhere, it could be the longest night of David Haye's career in many a year. With Bellew also carrying some serious juice in his hands, this has all the hallmarks of a ferocious contest.

When it ends let's hope the only stretcher involved is the one needed to carry home the pile of money each fighter is set to walk away with - money that even if this contest comes close to living up to the hype will be more than deserved.

Monday, 26 December 2016

Why boxing needs Chris Eubank Sr

Watching Chris Eubank Sr's Christmas Day interview with IFL TV's Kugan Cassius, I was reminded of the salient words of Oscar Wilde: "Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities."

Combining the style of a 19th century dandy and pride associated with a Roman gladiator, Eubank exists on a different plane than anyone else in boxing. He attracts ridicule for daring to try and elevate in word and deed the sport to its rightful place as one in which timeless virtues of courage, skill, honour, and resilience are reaffirmed. In this respect, he understands that when two highly trained and developed fighters meet in the centre of the ring, it is not only a battle of fists and wills that ensues but also a merging of the human spirit. In the process they transform one another and themselves, undergoing the kind of spiritual cleansing that can only come with pushing one another to the very limits of human endurance and pain. It is why when the Irish rebel Terence MacSwinney opined that it is not those who can inflict the most, but those that can suffer the most who will conquer, he could have been describing a sport that is as old as humanity itself.

It is this very philosophy - the philosophy of the ages, no less - that Eubank Sr has embraced in his approach to the fight game. In response he has attracted not only ridcule but even contempt from those for whom the sport is reduced to a a business and glorified scrap. Such a facile rendering of the sport has done much to push it towards the long grass of mediocrity and cynicism, forced to compete with MMA and WWE wrestling as a result.

This contempt for Chris Eubank Sr from some in the game has reached the point where promoter Eddie Hearn has seen fit to rip the piss out of the man by impersonating his voice. Just pause to consider how perverse it is to have a man who's probably never thrown a punch in anger in his entire life, laughing at one of the bravest and toughest men ever to lace up a pair of boxing gloves. Love or loathe the man, you cannot but respect the way he insists on ploughing his own furrow. It is why the likes of Hearn and Warren find him so difficult to deal with, the fact he refuses to bow down and accept anything less than the cream when it comes to managing his very able son's career.

Some of the points he made during his recent IFL interview were impossible to argue with - such as the fact that it is the fighters not the promoters who should receive the lion's share of revenue generated by marquee fights; such as the fact there is nobody better qualified than he to steer his son or be in his corner; such as the fact that promoters are in it for the money more than anything else; and such as the fact he has proved in his own career the wisdom of his methods, however "deluded" they may have and continue to appear to others.

Watching him take time to consider his words, his determination to articulate himself as powerfully and eloquently as he can, is a refreshing reminder that while undoubtedly a brutal sport, boxing does not need to be approached brutishly.

Eubank Sr is also quite correct to point out that his son is one of the most explosive and exciting fighters around. However as to him "wrecking Golovokin", this is debatable. Having said that, nobody thought he had a prayer going in against the wrecking machine that was Nigel Benn back in 1990, did they? With both he and Eubank Jr supremely confident of the outcome to this fight, when it eventually comes, it's already guaranteed to be a riveting prospect.

The sport of boxing needs characters like Chris Eubank Sr. After all, just as in life itself, for those who excel we are talking a game that is chess not chequers.

Monday, 19 December 2016

Bernard Hopkins v Father Time - there could only be one winner

The age-worn truth that in boxing Father Time is undefeated springs to mind with regard to the emphatic and sad end to the ring career of Bernard Hopkins, punched out of the ring by WBC International light heavyweight champion Joe Smith Jr in the 8th round of their clash at the Los Angeles Forum at the weekend.

It was an especially cruel denounement to the career of a fighter, in Hopkins, who goes out as one of the finest middleweights to ever grace the ring, and who over the last decade had successfully carved out a niche for himself as a fighter for whom Father Time was less a biological fact and more a minor inconvenience. To his credit, he had us all fooled into believing him - believing that, yes, he was so special and unique that he could go on as long as he wanted. We allowed ourselves to consider him a permanent fixture in the ring, convinced that someone so freakishly dedicated to the sport in all its various aspects, who lived the life like no other fighter on the planet, whose attention to every detail was obsessive and who was never less than in top shape, had managed to transcend the ageing process as no Beverly Hills plastic surgeon ever could.

We were wrong. And so was he.

His defeat, the manner of it, was a rude awakening. It brought us to our senses, or at least should have brought us to those senses, when it comes to the notion of putting a 27 year old in the ring with a 51 year old. No matter how dedicated, how great his career, such a notion could only ever be delusional, one that should never have been entertained for a second. And with due respect to Smith an in-prime, even past-prime Hopkins would not have lost a minute of any round in a fight against an opponent of this calibre. However this was not a past-prime fighter in there, it was a man whose pride in thinking he could defy Mother Nature proved his undoing. It bears repeating: in so doing he and those around him were guilty of lapsing into delusion.

Yet we find ourselves in an era in boxing which delusion is the new normal. Consider the evidence. Britain's Amir Khan believing he stood a chance against Canelo given the size difference - delusional: Kell Brook moving up two weight classes to face the hardest-hitting middleweight the sport has seen in generations and believing he stood a chance - delusional: Tony Bellew believing he can match David Haye for power at heavyweight - delusional: and worst of all, Conor McGregor believing he can transition from MMA to boxing and share a ring with Floyd Mayweather - utterly delusional.

The aforementioned does not describe boxing as the sport we all know and love, it describes boxing as a circus - a sport so fixated on PPV buys and generating revenue for promoters and TV networks it has lost touch with its soul.

There is a wider social and cultural issue involved here. Boxing, like every other sport, does not exist in a social or cultural vacuum. To a large extent it reflects the times we live in; and we are living in a time where spectacle is everything and integrity is nothing. In boxing this lack of integrity is not a malaise suffered by those who fight. Far from it. Fighters such as Bernard Hopkins and Kell Brook are the epitome of integrity, men who have earned every plaudit and every purse they ever won. But the system that controls boxing, never known for its purity of heart, has turned into a squalid corporate and money making racket, worse in many ways than it was under the mob back in the day. At least back then the sport and its fans were being humped by people with personality.

The woeful lack of honest boxing writing and journalism is another crucial aspect in boxing's decline as a sport and reinvention as a circus. Most of those we rely on to report on the fights are little more than PR secretaries for promoters and the networks. Holding the sport's powers that be to account on behalf of the fans is a thing of the past, with writers knowing that if they do they will suddenly find their applications for press passes denied and, with it, the privilege of being ringside and close to the action. The result is a chasm between what's being reported and what we see with our own eyes.

In boxing, despite what any promoter or fighter says, weight divisions matter, size matters, and age matters. Bernard Hopkins deserved better than to go out on the back of such a humiliating defeat. What he gave to the sport, his old school style, science, and ring smarts, married to a backstory that is the stuff of movies, elevated him to a venerated position in in the sport. But ulitmately, as clever and astute as he undoubtedly is, that bugbear of every fighter who can't let it go, vanity, got the better of him in the end. His fight against Joe Smith Jr was not boxing it was something else.

The sooner we get back to boxing the better.

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

Haye v Bellew - Beauty and the Beast

By the time David Haye meets Tony Bellew in the centre of the ring on March 4, 2017, at the O'2 Arena in London, we will already have witnessed a build-up that many would have paid to watch regardless of the fight itself, given the personalities of both fighters and the needle taht exists between them.

The surprising thing about this contest is that it arrived out of nowhere. Bellew had just climbed off the canvas at Goodison Park after being dropped in the first round of his vacant WBC cruiserweight title fight to destroy Ghana's Ilunga Makabu in the third, nailing him with his trademark left hook in front of 30,000 raucous fans in the summer. Though Bellew has never been a fighter anyone would ever confuse with Bambi, the rant he delivered upon taking the mic after the fight was so raw it could only have come from the soles of his feet, during which he called out the 'Bitch from Bermondsey', excoriating him for "conning the public" over the course of two comeback fights against terrible opposition.

Bellew, who recently tasted the limelight as Ricky 'Pretty Boy' Conlan in Sly Stallone's well received Rocky spinoff movie, Creed, is not easy to like. He comes over as boorish with a bully-boy mentality at times. Moreover, his smack-talk about Haye's "sponge haircut" carries with it a racial connotation that he needs to drop, else the build up may well spill over into the kind of nastiness that boxing doesn't need. That said, you can't argue with his achievements in the ring, testament to his dedication and the fine work that he's put in with his trainer Dave Coldwell. His most recent demolition of B J Flores proved that his victory over Makabu was no fluke. Though possessing a body that wouldn't look out of place at McDonalds, Bellew carries real power in his hands, in particular a left hook that is a true thing of beauty.

As for David Haye, what can you say about a guy who when at his best is one of the most exciting fighters on the planet? Though justifiably attracting criticism in recent times for being overtly mercenary in his approach to the game, taking fights against less than credible opposition and taking the boxing public for a ride in the process, he is no hype-job and can really fight. Since teaming up with Shane McGuigan, joing a stable that includes his old Adam Booth stablemate George Groves, along with Carl Frampton and up and coming star Josh Taylor, Haye appears to have rediscovered his taste for the game. A big factor in that is of course his recovery from the bad shoulder injury he sustained during camp while getting ready to face Tyson Fury back in 2013. It seemed at the time he was looking at retirement, yet a year later he's back getting ready to face Tony Bellew in a highly anticipated encounter.

The smart money has to be on Haye, given his experience of operating at heavyweight plus the fact he is the technically superior fighter. Yet, saying that, the Liverpudlian and Evertonian has made a career out of proving people wrong. Clearly he will be relishing the opportunity to do so again.

For the purists out there this fight is being decried as a mismatch, pitting a crusierweight against a heavyweight. But Haye is no natural heavyweight and will no doubt come in lighter than he normally does. He could do with boiling off some of that muscle mass he carries anyway, and in terms of bone-structure, height and overall dimension he and Bellew are not that far apart.

For Bellew this fight is a win-win, as no matter what happens he remains the WBC cruiserweight champion. He and Coldwell are banking on the fact that Haye has not been seriously tested since his fight against Dereck Chisora in 2012. They maintain that they see flaws they can exploit, which in conjunction with the momentum Bellew is currently riding on the back of two impressive performances gives them every reason to feel confident.

Regardless, my money is on David Haye. He's faster, more explosive, with experience of having been in with seasoned heavyweights. Though getting on in years, he hasn't taken huge punishment in the ring, and the lack of decent opposition he's faced since returning to the ring, this will not, I contend, be as much of a factor as some maintain. He is undoubtedly up for this battle, which will tell in the quality of the sparring and sparring partners he will use to get himself ready.

I don't see one this going past four rounds.

Saturday, 22 October 2016

Scotland's Josh Taylor is a special talent

Every Scottish fighter operating in the lighter divisions who shows the first hint of potential is immediately burdened by comparison to Ken Buchanan, the greatest fighter this small nation of five million has ever produced. It is a burden they are forced to carry as they try to live up to the great lightweight world champion's tremendous legacy, one of the greatest ever cultivated by a lightweight anywhere in any era. In every case up to now it has proved a curse, damning the unfortunate recipient of such high expectations with unrealistic promise.

The latest to be handed "the next Ken Buchanan" label is Josh Taylor, who has just claimed the vacant Commonwelath super lightweight title in only the seventh fight of his professional career against a tough and seasoned campaigner in the shape of Derby's Dave Ryan, former holder of the same belt. It was a significant step up in opponent for Taylor, a southpaw who can switch hit with inordinate skill. Prior to the fight he'd never gone beyond two rounds as a professional, something which added to the pressure of headlining in front of his home fans in Edinburgh meant it was a real test for the 25 year old former amateur star. It was a test he passed with flying colours from the opening bell, as he proceeded to school his opponent with a dazzling array of combinations, speed, reflexes, and superlative timing. Moving in and out, side to side, by the third round Taylor was on fire, peppering Ryan with jabs, hooks, left hand leads and bodyshots, before vacating the space to ensure that anything that came back was connecting with fresh air.

In fact, so one sided was this contest that the brutal shot to the body that ended the fight in the fifth came as a gesture of kindness, given how one-sided it had been, stopping Ryan to rapturous scenes both in and out of the ring.

Afterwards, Taylor's promoter and manager, Barry McGuigan, repeated the claim he's been making since Josh Taylor signed to him - namely that he considers Taylor to be the best fighter Scotland has produced since Buchanan, before going on to assert that after a couple of more fights the newly crowned Commonwealth champion will be ready to face and defeat Ricky Burns. This was no hyperbole on McGuigan's part; the Irish boxing legend genuinely believes that under his son Shane's tutelage, Josh Taylor can achieve greatness in the sport. That said, it seems premature to be calling out a champion in Ricky Burns who's been to hell and back in the ring, a fighter who brings to any fight such a massive hinterland of experience and adversity to draw on. While undeniably more talented and multifaceted than Burns, Taylor at this stage would be better focusing on developing his craft without being placed under unnecessary pressure, with the British title currently in the possession of Tyrone Nurse a more realistic and worthy goal at this stage.

A product of Lochend ABC in Edinburgh, Taylor hasn't put a foot wrong in either his amateur or pro career thus far. Sparring with the likes of up and coming pros John Thain, Tommy Philbin, and Lewis Benson on a regular basis helped shape the foundations upon which Shane McGuigan has been able to work since he turned pro after taking the gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Being part of the same stable as Carl Frampton, George Groves, and Davd Haye is clearly paying huge dividends when it comes to the 25-year-old's development, which added to the abundance of talent he brings to the table is a combination that deserves to be described as irresistible. Yet despite mixing in this kind of company, Taylor remains humble and respectful, attributes that augur well for the future.

His amateur coach and proprietor of Lochend ABC, Terry McCormack, retains a close relationship with a fighter who first waklked through the doors of his gym when he was 17. During the years he had him under his wing, McCormack organised two trips across to Freddie Roach's famed Wildcard Gym in Hollywood, where Taylor sparred with the likes of Frankie Gomez and Guillermo Rigondeaux, excelling on each occasion. The point is that Josh Taylor hasn't appeared from nowhere. His development is the result of years of painstaking work, sparring, and conditioning. How many world champions and legends owe their early development to amateur coaches who played a crucial role not only in forging their foundations as fighters but as men? These, truly, are the unsung heroes and mainstay of the sport.

The McGuigans deserve credit for their ability to recognise talent when they see it, and Josh Taylor is a special talent make no mistake. He fights with the confidence and composure of someone who will not and cannot be denied.

As far as comparisons go, Ken Buchanan's world famous tartan shorts may finally have found a Scottish fighter fit to fill them again.