JOSH Taylor moves up to welterweight tomorrow evening and the Scottish fighter will have a home crowd helping him make the transition in Glasgow’s OVO Arena. Nottingham’s unassuming Ekow Essuman is tasked with spoiling the party.
Once he hit his prime, Taylor (3/10) was one of British boxing’s star performers. Now, the ‘Tartan Tornado’ finds himself in the strange position of acclimatising to a new weight class after two defeats.
First, Teofimo Lopez and then Jack Catterall beat him on points. If you count the controversial first Catterall fight as a loss (or at least not a vintage Taylor showing), he’s had a torrid three-year stretch.
Essuman (5/2) will be out to make that four miserable outings in a row on Saturday. Strong, fit, and extremely capable, Ekow will fancy he can push Taylor into the trenches again. Essuman’s best work has come at British level. Taylor left that class a long time ago.
However, injuries, inactivity and slipping form could even up the playing field in this 10-rounder. How much will it even up, though? Stylistically, Essuman will be motoring forward, just as Taylor likes. The backfoot movements of Lopez and Catterall caused no end of problems. Essuman won’t present those problems.
This has a distance fight written all over it. Premium Taylor would use his southpaw stick to dictate terms and his scything body assaults to chop down his opponent. This version of the Edinburgh fighter has not forced a stoppage in almost five years.
Essuman will push all the way, likely losing a competitive decision as Taylor slides into life under the Queensberry Promotions banner. It will tell us much about what Josh has left to offer in the longer term.
Boxing News Betting Tips
Josh Taylor To Win By Unanimous Decision @ 11/8
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