Scotland’s Josh Taylor has been forced to call time on his storied career.
Taylor, 34, announced his retirement from professional boxing on Monday morning due to a recurring eye injury. “The Tartan Tornado” says he was advised by doctors to hang up his gloves or risk losing his eyesight.
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Taylor (19-3, 13 KOs) was the first four-belt undisputed champion from Britain. He won the World Boxing Super Series in 2019, which included wins over IBF super lightweight champion Ivan Baranchyk and WBA titleist Regis Prograis.
After emerging out of the WBSS with two belts, Taylor chased the other two titles — held by Jose Ramirez — by signing with Ramirez’s promoter, Bob Arum’s Top Rank. Taylor ultimately defeated Ramirez in 2021 in Las Vegas to unify the four 140-pound belts.
Since then, however, Taylor’s career has been nothing short of a nightmare. The Scotsman announced his homecoming title defense against little-known mandatory challenger Jack Catterall. In the opinion of many, Catterall deserved to win on the scorecards on that February 2022 night in Glasgow, but was denied the verdict after a heavily disputed decision went in favor of the local fighter.
Taylor gave up three of his championships attempting to make a rematch with Catterall, but that failed, and then he was ordered to defend his WBO belt against Teofimo Lopez. Lopez took Taylor’s final title by unanimous decision in 2023.
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A deal was finally reached for a much-anticipated Taylor vs. Catterall rematch following that defeat — and this time the judges did get it right. Catterall was awarded the decision over Taylor in Leeds, England, in the rematch.
Looking for a fresh start after essentially three defeats on the bounce, Taylor moved up to welterweight earlier this year and signed with Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions to undergo one final run in his career. Ekow Essuman, however, outworked and outfought Taylor to hand him another defeat.
Although Taylor’s retirement officially comes due to an eye injury, the trajectory of his career was heading in that direction anyway.
Taylor’s journey to capturing all of the belts at super lightweight was special, and he will hope that is his legacy in the sport.
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