Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez | Sky Sports - 10 June 2023

[mickey1975]

Sky rule the roost for the big foreign fights. Inoue-Fulton and Beterbiev-Smith coming soon.

Given he is the self-appointed biggest promoter in the world, it does surprise me how few of the biggest fights that Hearn is involved with these days (outside of Canelo, who as we know basically chooses to do what he wants).

It's Top Rank's deal with Sky that's doing it.

Obviously with Bert-Cal, TR won the purse bid.

Yes, you're right. It's Matchrooms deal with DAZN that gets them the fights on there, and Queensbury's with BT does the same.

[MightyWarrior]

Read the BN preview in the shop just now. Sadly stopped buying it after 40 years due to that overly verbose doofus Elliot Worsall taking over the mag. His preview as usual is two pages of waffling about the out of ring problems of the two fighters, before briefly saying how fight might play out in one paragraph. ( Good write up on the stinking Saudi affair by Matt though )

God, I miss the days when a truly knowledgeable writer like Grahame Houston would actually lay out all the variables and intangibles of what he thinks might happen in a big fight preview.

He’s in hospital right now, and if you’re reading this big man, get well soon. We miss you

[Ruthless-RKO]

Given he is the self-appointed biggest promoter in the world, it does surprise me how few of the biggest fights that Hearn is involved with these days (outside of Canelo, who as we know basically chooses to do what he wants).

It's Top Rank's deal with Sky that's doing it.

Obviously with Bert-Cal, TR won the purse bid.

Yes, you're right. It's Matchrooms deal with DAZN that gets them the fights on there, and Queensbury's with BT does the same.

Had TR not signed the Sky deal, then it would have been on a fight-by-fight thing, hoping someone in the UK would pick up their fights. So it's good for us UK fans that we have a permanent home for TR cards.

[a force]

I think Taylor destroys Lopez.

I think he’s living the right life again & he looks & sounds a lot more healthy this week than he did the week of the Catterall fight.

Let’s be right, if Taylor’s anywhere near the shape he was in for the Prograis fight he wins this comfortably. The only doubts are his inactivity & weight making but he’s been in Liverpool for months. He was in training camp back when Smith knocked Eubank out. I don’t think weight will be an issues & whilst he’s not got Shane McGuigan in his corner I think he’s got a near perfect trainer for his style in Joe McNally

[jamesmcdonnell]

Read the BN preview in the shop just now. Sadly stopped buying it after 40 years due to that overly verbose doofus Elliot Worsall taking over the mag. His preview as usual is two pages of waffling about the out of ring problems of the two fighters, before briefly saying how fight might play out in one paragraph. ( Good write up on the stinking Saudi affair by Matt though )

God, I miss the days when a truly knowledgeable writer like Grahame Houston would actually lay out all the variables and intangibles of what he thinks might happen in a big fight preview.

He’s in hospital right now, and if you’re reading this big man, get well soon. We miss you

Graham Houston is one of the best figh analysts there is, I always enjoyed reading his columns.

Just looked at his twitter account, and he's out of hospital apparently, after a partial hip replacement.

He had his own website for a while, has that gone now, cannot seem to find it....yeah, the site has ceased, a shame, enjoyed reading it - but there's no money whatsoever in having your own boxing website, impossible to monetize without some serious investment, and even then, advertising revenue would be pretty paltry.

[The Gratest]

First time in a while that i'll be setting my alarm for a stateside fight. I can see their styles meshing well for a fight quite similar to the Taylor v Prograis contest, a fight with a great blend of skill, but then ultimately decided when Taylor's will to win made him dig deep and edged him ahead. I also enjoyed the sportsmanship and respect displayed in that fight, before, during and after. It was about fighting to win rather than any additional shite. That doesn't appear to be the case with this one though with Lopez shit-talking a bit, although I like it when Taylor has a bit of needle and spite in him.

I was a huge Taylor fan, always guaranteed a good fight with him. It soured somewhat with the fallout from the Catterall fight, but in taking on someone of Lopez's calibre and shit-talking ways, he'll probably win back a few fans (I agree though that Catterall more than deserved a rematch).
I think a combo of 3 things affected his Catterall performance.
Underestimating Catterall; coming down from fighting against what he perceived to be world title level opposition, to taking on what he viewed as no more than a domestic level opponent.
Catterall's awkward style; stylistically he looked all wrong for Taylor, who couldn't land his favoured shots due to Catterall's stance and upper body movement (fair play to Catterall for that).
Weight issues; Taylor really does look drawn out at the weight and there might become a point/fight where he goes to dip into those reserves (Prograis fight) but finds that extra gear is no longer there.

Taylor certainly won't underestimate Lopez.
Lopez's style will suit Taylor a lot more than Catterall's, allow him to crowd in and fight on the inside, which he's very effective at doing for a tall fighter at his weight, so it won't be a style issue. It's the 3rd one that worries me more and the fact that Lopez does carry a decent dig. Taylor's been hurt and down before, but Lopez has a finisher's instinct and will jump on him if the chance comes. Taylor reminds me a bit of Calzaghe in that, when hurt, he won't back off, he'll try to face the opponent and get back at them. I think this might be his downfall and, after an even start to the fight, with Taylor possibly edging it, I can see Lopez catching him late on and the ref stepping in. I hope i'm fking wrong though!

[MightyWarrior]

Graham Houston is one of the best figh analysts there is, I always enjoyed reading his columns.

Just looked at his twitter account, and he's out of hospital apparently, after a partial hip replacement.

He had his own website for a while, has that gone now, cannot seem to find it....yeah, the site has ceased, a shame, enjoyed reading it - but there's no money whatsoever in having your own boxing website, impossible to monetize without some serious investment, and even then, advertising revenue would be pretty paltry.

Ah that’s great to know, his wife said he’d gone to hospital and I was fearing the worst. Yeah shame his website is o longer. I think he writes betting previews for one of the websites, I’ll try to find out which one

[Counter-puncher]

ultimately decided when Taylor's will to win made him dig deep and edged him ahead.

i can never see why people think one bloke won just because he decided to try harder than the other bloke, who seemingly just got a bit tired of making the effort all of a sudden. I mean, for a start I'd tend to assume Boxer A's actions probably had something to do with Boxer B shutting down a bit in the later rounds.

i thought the late rounds run had more to do with Taylor using his huge body to lean and grapple down on RP and tire him out than just because he 'wanted it more' than Prograis. no offence but i think it's mostly bollocks and a totally asinine way to describe why a fight is won.

[MightyWarrior]

First time in a while that i'll be setting my alarm for a stateside fight. I can see their styles meshing well for a fight quite similar to the Taylor v Prograis contest, a fight with a great blend of skill, but then ultimately decided when Taylor's will to win made him dig deep and edged him ahead. I also enjoyed the sportsmanship and respect displayed in that fight, before, during and after. It was about fighting to win rather than any additional shite. That doesn't appear to be the case with this one though with Lopez shit-talking a bit, although I like it when Taylor has a bit of needle and spite in him.

I was a huge Taylor fan, always guaranteed a good fight with him. It soured somewhat with the fallout from the Catterall fight, but in taking on someone of Lopez's calibre and shit-talking ways, he'll probably win back a few fans (I agree though that Catterall more than deserved a rematch).
I think a combo of 3 things affected his Catterall performance.
Underestimating Catterall; coming down from fighting against what he perceived to be world title level opposition, to taking on what he viewed as no more than a domestic level opponent.
Catterall's awkward style; stylistically he looked all wrong for Taylor, who couldn't land his favoured shots due to Catterall's stance and upper body movement (fair play to Catterall for that).
Weight issues; Taylor really does look drawn out at the weight and there might become a point/fight where he goes to dip into those reserves (Prograis fight) but finds that extra gear is no longer there.

Taylor certainly won't underestimate Lopez.
Lopez's style will suit Taylor a lot more than Catterall's, allow him to crowd in and fight on the inside, which he's very effective at doing for a tall fighter at his weight, so it won't be a style issue. It's the 3rd one that worries me more and the fact that Lopez does carry a decent dig. Taylor's been hurt and down before, but Lopez has a finisher's instinct and will jump on him if the chance comes. Taylor reminds me a bit of Calzaghe in that, when hurt, he won't back off, he'll try to face the opponent and get back at them. I think this might be his downfall and, after an even start to the fight, with Taylor possibly edging it, I can see Lopez catching him late on and the ref stepping in. I hope i'm fking wrong though!

Yeah I’m a huge Taylor fan ( imagine how much more popular he’d be without access to social media, like the old days. And covid ) but worried about him walking into one of those Lopez bombs early, then going to war. Lopez has scored some scary knockouts, the punch that did for Richard Commey should put Taylor on his guard you'd hope.

[The Gratest]

ultimately decided when Taylor's will to win made him dig deep and edged him ahead.

i can never see why people think one bloke won just because he decided to try harder than the other bloke, who seemingly just got a bit tired of making the effort all of a sudden. I mean, for a start I'd tend to assume Boxer A's actions probably had something to do with Boxer B shutting down a bit in the later rounds.

i thought the late rounds run had more to do with Taylor using his huge body to lean and grapple down on RP and tire him out than just because he 'wanted it more' than Prograis. no offence but i think it's mostly bollocks and a totally asinine way to describe why a fight is won.

Criticism taken and accepted It wasn't meant to come across as simplistic as that, my apologies if it seems that way in your interpretation. My mistake for concentrating on Taylor, whereas it was the effort from both of them that made it the fight it was (I had it as my FOTY).
Of course there was more involved than just 'will to win', I won't dispute that. From what I recall of the fight, it was the late mid rounds, 8 to 10 (?) where Taylor took over and started edging it more, and then Prograis had a brief rally in the final round(s)after that, so he wasn't completely spent.
It was one of those fights where it was difficult to separate the two early on, and it was just over the latter part of a fews rounds where the difference was made. I never said that Prograis simply stopped trying, and gave up the effort. It was quite the opposite. Great fights like that require both fighters to continue pushing each other; only over that brief period, Taylor seemed to be able to impose himself more with a mix of his tactics (as you mentioned) and his will. That doesn't equate to Prograis not having that same will to win, the fight itself showed how much he wanted it as well. It needed Prograis' own effort to bring that out of Taylor. I never used the 'wanted it more' line.
I highlighted that aspect of Taylor due to his upcoming fight where it looks like he could need to be digging deep again.

[Counter-puncher]

sure but how can we say Prograis has less 'will to win' (which to me seems pretty much like 'wanting it more' in so many words) than Taylor? i don't see how we can, Taylor showed tactical adaptability, you could maybe say just a bit more physical strength and resilience but will to win is immeasurable and I tend to take it as a given with elite athletes?

[The Gratest]

I IRONFIST

[Counter-puncher]

[Ezzard]

Just a lot of question marks over Taylor. But hope he can win this.

[MightyWarrior]

Weigh in

[MightyWarrior]

Teo neckid 140

[MightyWarrior]

138 Josh

reckon he looks ok, drained but not as bad as last time..not sure how…Teo looks great, Josh ranting. Teo was just staring at him, Lopez looks super confident as usual

[handsofstone]

Thought Taylor looked excellent on the scales, well for him anyway, least drained looking I've seen for a while, hope he punches Lopez's head clean off his shoulders and smacks his old man square on the jaw

[The Gratest]

Taylor away to get his strength back and fill himself up with some haggis, neeps, mars bars and irn bru. All natural nutrition and protein.

[Grant]

Only one title on the line?

[TheLeprechaun]

I just can't get past the Catterall fight and how josh was struggling a bit with the jab of catterall. Not the best head movement either. It feels like Teo is a bad style for him. I can see him getting caught with counters if he is pushing the fight. Maybe he will just have to do it the hard way and risk the counters to put it on Teo himself. It's a fight that has caught my attention and I'll have a big fight buzz watching it.

[Coco]

While most think that Catteral should have got the rematch, Taylor def gets more than a pass here, a mouthwatering fight

[Ruthless-RKO]

Only one title on the line?

He only has one belt lol.

Ring Mag will be at stake too and the Lineal belt.

[bigped]

Anyone know eta ring walk times ?

[The Gratest]

Anyone know eta ring walk times ?

I read the coverage starts at 1am with main event expected around 4am. (BST)