JOSH TAYLOR brought an edge of aggression to his press conference with Regis Prograis today in London. The rival world champions, Scotland’s Taylor holds the IBF crown, Louisana’s Prograis is the WBA titlist, fight to unify at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday (October 26).
Taylor is increasingly primed and ready to flare up. He told Prograis, in no uncertain terms, to take off his sunglasses at the press conference. The Scotsman glowered down at his rival in their face off and placed his hand on the American’s title belt as they posed for photos.
“I am just ready to fight now, I am actually nice and relaxed but when I saw him turn up in the rain in his suit and sunglasses, I just thought, ‘Who do you think you are?’ Is he some sort of superstar?” Taylor said. “When I see him face-to-face at the press conference and the weigh-in, my mindset is no longer ‘how you doing, all the best’.
“I am now thinking, ‘let’s get ready to go’. My mindset has changed. The switch has flicked.”
Prograis however contended, “Maybe he is nervous, we will see.”
“You can try to make mean faces and be scary but that does not win a fight,” he continued. “He might be trying to intimidate me but I am not trying to intimidate him because I don’t feel it works.
“Fight night is all that counts, he tried to grab my belt for a reaction but he got nothing out of me.”
