WBO super-lightweight champion Josh Taylor fights Teofimo Lopez in the early hours of Sunday morning live on Sky Sports; here we reveal why Taylor has 'a chip on his shoulder' and answer the other key questions ahead of their fight...
Josh Taylor goes into this weekend’s showdown with Teofimo Lopez with a point to prove.
The Scot is looking at his WBO super-lightweight title defence against the New Yorker as a chance at redemption after a frustrating showing in his last bout against Jack Catterall.
In Glasgow in February of last year, Taylor retained his undisputed championship, albeit by controversial split-decision.
The calls for a rematch came instantly. As a deal was reached, Taylor had to vacate three of his four world titles. However, a torn tendon in Taylor's heel saw that bout eventually fall through.
After a lengthy layoff the "Tartan Tornado" is back against a new opponent in Lopez, the mandatory challenger for his WBO belt. Taylor is itching to display exactly what took him to the pinnacle of the sport.
He told Sky Sports: "I don't think I've got a point to prove in terms of the fighter I am, the calibre, but I've got point to prove in putting on a big performance here and say, 'look I told you I'm not going anywhere. I'm still the best fighter on the planet'.
"One bad performance in 10 years and all of a sudden, I'm down here in people's estimation. I've got a big point to prove and a chip on my shoulder, so this is when you'll see the best of me."
The WBO champion will be going up against a dangerous opponent whom he feels not only will make for a more captivating fight but also be a greater challenge for him than Catterall.
"I think this is a much bigger fight worldwide, it's a huge fight. It's a massive fight in boxing worldwide," Taylor said.
"It's a tougher fight I believe as well. I think Teofimo is a much better calibre opponent than Catterall all-round. His skills are just better than Catterall all-around.
"He's got the athleticism, he's got the power, he's got the punch speed, he's got the combinations you know, he can do it all. He's a very good fighter. But he's coming up against a better fighter in myself."
Taylor felt the level of criticism he received after the Catterall fight was unwarranted, saying: "I think that the volume and the amount of disrespect I received after that, a lot of it was really uncalled for.
"Most of the great fighters have had bad nights, but never had anything like that. I got it for some reason. But after this fight, that will be gone, be forgotten about. That's what I plan on doing with this performance."
Lopez is a fighter who is looking for redemption himself. After bursting onto the scene across the Atlantic with a KO of the year contender against Mason Mernard in 2018, destructive stoppage victories over Diego Magdaleno and Richard Commey followed in 2019 and he secured a massive upset victory over the legendary Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2020.
Ripping Lomachenko's three belts away to become a unified lightweight champion elevated Lopez to superstardom. However, in his very first title defence, the fairytale came to an abrupt halt after a split decision loss to Australia's George Kambosos, that too coming at Madison Square Garden.
He subsequently moved up to super-lightweight where he stopped Pedro Campa and picked up a split-decision win over Sandor Martin.
Lopez is looking to become a two-weight world champion against Taylor and erase the memories of that torrid night against Kambosos.
But Taylor believes the 25-year old's mental scars are visible. After a tough-fought battle against Martin, Lopez walked away with a razor-thin split-decision victory.
Taylor suggested: "He's mentally weak. I think he's mentally shot a little bit, in terms of questioning himself like that on camera. He'll say that it's all trickery and a false sense of security, but you don't do that kind of stuff.
"You don't question yourself like that on camera straight after the fight when the adrenaline's buzzing and all that. So you know that he's definitely got them self-doubts."
The Scot remains confident in himself and is adamant he will secure a memorable victory.
"He's very explosive," Taylor said of Lopez. "He's quite quick, he looks like he carries power as well, you know he's quite smart boxing-wise, but he also makes a lot of fundamental mistakes that I know I can expose on fight night and will expose on fight night."
He promised: "Fireworks. Search and destroy. An explosive night, an explosive performance, a polished performance all the way around and just back to the old Josh Taylor.
"I can't wait."
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