At home in camp with Josh Taylor telling tales of the day a golf club smashed his jaw in four places:
“I think I was about nine or ten years old. No older than eleven. We’re down the local park playing golf. I was stood right behind her but it wasn’t a back swing and it went bang! Full through right on the jaw. You know that feeling? Deafening. What was that? I put my hand to my face and brought it back and it was covered in blood. I was ten or eleven, freaked out and ran into my cousins house. I walked in and looked at my uncle and he said ‘oh Christ, Jesus, fuck!’ Jumped in the fan, put a towel to my face. I drove to my mum’s house to get her. I’m sitting in the front see and I took my hand away from my face and my jaw fell down, open. It was horrific. The skin opened up so you could see my bones and teeth. My face was hanging off, effectively. My mum was in hysterics. We were just kids, a freak accident. We went to the local doctors and the called an ambulance. None of the pain kicked in until the adrenaline wore off when we were waiting for the ambulance. I remember that’s when it really started getting sore. Got the laughing gas in the back of the van and was brand new. They brought me to the hospital and put me under and had my face rebuilt. My jaw was smashed in four different places. Obliterated to bits. I was a small boy. I remember being in the hospital for a couple of weeks. There is a picture kicking round of the scar and my black eye, but that was it getting better. My face was a balloon, black and blue for months. I knew I could take a chin then. But I was very, very lucky. A week after that happened to me it happened again to a boy in my area and he died. The doctor said an inch higher and it would have been the temple and could have been fatal. Sorry Sarah, she hates that story.”
Jose Ramirez fight
“I’ve touched on this in an interview, I think outside the heavyweights and whoever Canelo fights, this is one of the biggest fights out there. It’s the purest boxing fight. It’s not very often you get to fight for all the belts. I think it’s one of the biggest fights in the game right now. I’ve got my fight in a couple of weeks, I believe I’ll get through it, no doubt in my mind. My full focus is on that and I don’t really want to talk about Ramirez, but potentially that’s a massive fight.”
Welterweight
“I’d love to share a ring with my hero, Manny Pacquiao. I’d love to share a ring with Terence Crawford. I’d love to share a ring with Errol Spence. I’d love to share a ring with Shawn Porter, I’d love to fight them all. I call it the sexy division. The talent is so deep. So many top level fighters in that division, it’s unbelievable. I’d not be short of any big fights there if I move up. Even non title fights are massive fights in that division.”
The Best HW ?
“At the minute it’s the big man, Tyson Fury. I thought he won the first fight with Wilder, even with the knockdown and he dominated him in the second fight. It showed he’s unpredictable. I don’t think he knows what he’s going to do so how can you plan for someone so unreadable? I think that fight with Joshua has to happen. If it doesn’t happen it’s a joke. I think 60/40 Tyson Fury. In terms of boxing wise I don’t think there’s anyone who can beat Tyson Fury. But Joshua is very good at combination fighting, a great finisher and very good at mid to short range. His uppercut, left cut and variation and he’s powerful all the way through. If Joshua catches him it could be game over. If he gets up, Joshua will jump in and try and finish you. It’s a very very good fight and I think it has to happen sooner rather than later.”
Will Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr become world champions ?
“I’m not too confident that Chris Eubank will become a world champion at super middleweight. He’s not big enough. Maybe at middleweight. He is a very good fighter, but I don’t think he can become a world champion in the current super middleweight pool. Conor Benn I think can become a world champion. I think he’s a very good fighter. He’ll give anyone a hard night with his work rate. He’s very physical and leaves it all in the ring.”
“I’ll never be a tippy-tappy fighter…”
