BRITISH and Commonwealth light-heavyweight champion Lewis Edmondson will no longer be facing Ezra Taylor in July, despite the pair reaching a verbal agreement last month.
The domestic rivals have long teased a potential showdown, only for their dustup to emerge as a genuine possibility on May 10.
Back then, Taylor outlasted Troy Jones in what swiftly became his toughest test as a professional, before coming away from their encounter with a unanimous decision victory.
In doing so, the 30-year-old became the mandatory challenger for the British title, giving Edmondson, 11-0 (3 KOs), until the end of October to defend his Lonsdale Belt.
But while their clash was expected to take place on July 19, featuring on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois 2, Edmondson has since confirmed that Taylor, 12-0 (8 KOs), will be heading in a different direction.
“In this boxing game, nothing’s ever given and nothing’s ever promised,” he told Boxing News. “For whatever reason, Ezra Taylor wasn’t ready [for July].
“I don’t know whether he sustained an injury but, after the [Jones] fight, I did ask him, ‘do you have any injuries? Are you ready to go in July?’ He said that he had no injuries.
“He’s not stupid – his team’s not stupid – so maybe they know that they’ve got to go back to the drawing board.
“It was disappointing, as we’d been preparing for him for a good while. But it doesn’t surprise me.
“He had that hard fight with Troy Jones, which I thought was a lot closer [than the scorecards suggested], and I think he’s all bark and no bite.”
Despite the Taylor fight falling through, Edmondson will nonetheless appear at Wembley Stadium next month, with an announcement of his next outing expected to arrive on Monday.
The 29-year-old claimed his British strap last October, securing a majority decision victory over Dan Azeez, but has since made just one defence of his Commonwealth title.
Neither belt, however, will be on the line for his upcoming assignment, while Taylor, on the other hand, is seemingly yet to secure his third fight date of this year.
In any case, Edmondson remains convinced that their matchup could be revisited, with both fighters, after all, operating under Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions banner.
‘The Saint’ added: “What else is [Taylor] going to do? He’s mandatory for the British title and is not getting any younger.
“He thinks he’s a superstar, but he still hasn’t cemented his name in the sport with any meaningful titles.
“So I feel like the fight will happen, because he’s not got many other options.”
