WBO super-lightweight championship: Josh Taylor is looking to finish Teofimo Lopez early to defend his belt
Jun 05, 2023
New York [US], June 5 : World Boxing Organisation's (WBO) super-lightweight champion Josh Taylor is set to defend his belt against Teofimo Lopez on June 11 at the Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York.
Taylor plans to set an assertive pace this weekend and finish the fight in the early rounds to defend his 140lbs WBO belt. "The way I think he's going to fight, we'll put him out of there early," Taylor was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.
Lopez has an impressive resume (18-1) in boxing and became a three-belt unified champion at lightweight after defeating Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2020. His single loss in his professional boxing career was against George Kambosos Jr in 2021.
A win against Lopez would re-establish Taylor as one of the most dominant champions in boxing today who is still undefeated (19-0) in his professional carrier.
"But if it goes the other way, which I think it might do as well, it'll be a boxing match, a clever boxing match but nothing that I'm going to be surprised with. I've watched him quite a bit in the lead-up to this fight and I think I know what I'm expecting. But whatever he brings, I'm more than ready for," Taylor said as per Sky Sports.
The fight this weekend will be Taylor's first fight with new trainer Joe McNally. "Having said that, the fighter that beat Lomachenko is the version of Teofimo Lopez that I'm preparing for; a very good fighter."
"I've got - I've said it so many times my mojo back. I feel like I've got it back. I just feel like I'm back to my old chirpy self. The way I was before in the lead up to the [Regis] Prograis fight. I feel I'm back to that kind of mentality. That sort of form as well," The champion said.
Taylor further stated that he has unlocked his full potential and has worked on the bits of his game that needed improvement.
"I wouldn't say the love for the game was lost, I just felt like there was just something always missing, that one link missing that I was looking for that I wasn't able to get out. The full potential out of myself."
"There's none of that now. I feel like I'm unlocking my full potential and can be myself and improving as well, improving on the bits of my game that I need to improve on. I just feel like I'm firing on all cylinders." Taylor concluded.
