WHEN Boxing News caught up with Ezra Taylor, just under two weeks ago, the unbeaten light-heavyweight operator was in the thick of his training camp.
Naturally, he was expecting to face British and Commonwealth champion Lewis Edmondson this Saturday, only to later discover that his opponent had pulled out with an injury.
It was then confirmed at the beginning of this week that Taylor, 12-0 (8 KOs), has not only maintained his place on the undercard of Joseph Parker vs Fabio Wardley, but will also collide with late-replacement Steed Woodall, a natural super-middleweight, at London’s O2 Arena.
Indeed, the circumstances are far from ideal, but equally, ‘The Cannon’ is no stranger to a chaotic turn of events.
Prior to his last outing, which saw him outpoint Troy Jones in May, Taylor was forced to overcome a truly unexpected distraction during his first camp with former heavyweight contender Malik Scott.
Having only just linked up with his trainer, embracing his new surroundings in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, the Nottingham man’s US adventure was then suddenly thrown into jeopardy.
“Believe it or not, I actually got deported while I was out here, so that kind of put a halt to my training camp [for Jones],” Taylor told Boxing News. “Then I had about three four weeks to prepare with Malik.
“I went to Mexico for a day, just to watch a Gerald Washington fight, and when I came back, US customs were telling me that I had to go back to the UK.
“At that point, ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] were doing all sorts of stuff. So yeah, I went back to the UK, had to sort all of that out, and then come back [to the US].
“But with the performance [against Jones], you wouldn’t have known I’d got deported and had all of those problems.”
With such issues resolved, the past however many weeks have allowed Taylor and Scott to form what, at first, appeared to be an unlikely bond.
As a coach, Scott is perhaps best known for his work with former world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, and it was that particular relationship which, for Taylor, made him slightly hesitant following an impromptu meeting in the US.
“I linked up with Hamzah Sheeraz while I was out here [on holiday] – I think he was training for the Tyler Denny fight – and that’s how I met my strength and conditioning coach, who then put me in touch with Malik,” Taylor recalled.
“He was like, ‘Your style would work really well with Malik.’ And I was like, ‘What, the one who trains Deontay Wilder? We [him and Wilder] are polar opposites.’
“But I tried it, and we just made it happen.”
For Taylor, it is Scott’s keen attention to detail, and unwavering ambition, which has made him feel right at home.
“With Malik, he’s very meticulous in his approach to certain things,” he said. “We also want to be the best at what we do – I want to be a world champion, and he wants to be the best coach in the world. That’s the ethos of the team.
“It’s a crazy relationship, and we’re really in sync in terms of our boxer-coach partnership. No disrespect to my past trainers but I’ve never had that before.”
One training drill, in particular, that has captured Taylor’s imagination is where Scott shines a laser pointer at a punch bag, signalling where his fighter’s fist must land.
And while, from an outside perspective, it may seem as if the pair are merely fiddling around with a cat toy, there does, at the same time, appear to be a genuine method to the madness.
“It’s good for me because I like playing video games,” Taylor explained.
“It’s the same type of thing in the ring, where you’re setting something up and then, when you see an opportunity, you’ve got to go for it straight away.
“What I like about that drill is that the bag’s swinging back and forth, so it’s about punching when you’re uncomfortable. Even if it doesn’t feel right, you’ve still got to go.”
As for Taylor’s development in sparring, it must be said that a vastly different level of focus is required.
“In LA, I’m surrounded by serious boxers,” he insisted. “It ain’t no game out here. The spars out here are harder than the fights.
“Sometimes they [sparring partners] come to prove a point, or they’re just doing what they usually do, because the intensity is much higher [in US boxing gyms].
“You can either match it or get smoked, but I’m prevailing out here. You’re in the fire every day.
“You’re sparring these Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs – people that are flying in for a week or two – and you’re just mixing it with all these different styles.
“Whereas, in the UK, I always found that the styles were just British styles. There’s nothing wrong with that but, to be the best, you need to see everything.”
