THIS weekend at London’s iconic York Hall in Bethnal Green Scotland’s super lightweight unified world champion, Josh Taylor, defends his WBA and IBF belts against Thailand’s Apinun Khongsong.

He does so after 11 months out of the ring following his gruelling encounter with Regis Prograis last October in the final of the super lightweight World Boxing Super Series. However, rather than view such a long lay-off due to Covid and lockdown with the disdain you might imagine, the 29-year-old claims the break has been beneficial.

“It [lockdown] was probably my first real break from boxing since I turned pro five years ago,” he offered when pressed on the subject, “and it’s just been fight after fight and just grinding it out in training all the time.

“I’ve been relaxing and switching off from boxing, and it was a pretty good time to sit and reflect on what I’ve achieved in the sport in such a short space of time, and have a bit of pride in what I’ve done. I was also able to have a little bit more time with Ben and get to know him.”

Ben is of course trainer Ben Davison, with whom Taylor teamed up in February after a very public and acrimonious split with former trainer Shane McGuigan and his father Barry McGuigan as promoter and manager. Though such a change of training and management team just after reaching the peak of success in the ring might run counter to conventional wisdom, for Taylor it’s resulted in a “renewed love for boxing.”

If the news coming out of his Harlow training base in Essex is anything to go by, he’s certainly coming in tonight as sharp and focused as he’s ever been. Just as importantly for a fighter operating at the elite level, he’s also coming in happier.

As with the various other British fighters who’ve entered the ring during lockdown, Taylor and Davison face the challenge of performing in an arena devoid of fans. For Khongsong, meanwhile, fighting away from home in an arena that isn’t packed with a partisan crown, this could be considered an advantage.

But this being said, it’s doubtful that Taylor will take his foot off the gas for as much as a second tonight — not with the tantalising prospect of next facing Jose Martinez for the right to claim the mantle of undisputed champion if he comes through Khongsong as expected.

Because though Khongsong remains undefeated in 16 outings and has 13 KOs on his record, Taylor has operated at a significantly higher level and carries the aura of a fighter whom you would have to nail to the canvas to keep there. His speed, power, raw aggression and intensity sets him apart in the division, to the point where Scotland’s most accomplished world champion since Ken Buchanan is on course to becoming a superstar in the sport.

Further still, with Top Rank’s Bob Arum — US promoter of both Taylor and Martinez — stating that he would be open to holding a future clash between them for undisputed honours in Edinburgh, Taylor will enter the ring against the tall and rangy Thai challenger with even more incentive than normal to do a number on him.

Ben Davison is in no doubt that Josh has the potential to become not only the undisputed champ at super lightweight but also a multi-weight world champion and, based on where he is now in his career, who could argue? 

Indeed, thinking about it, if you were to sit down and write a script delineating the ideal arc of progress for a fighter from amateur to pro, and from there all the way up to the summit of success, the Scot’s career is one that you would use as a template.

From qualifying for the GB Olympic team for the 2012 Games in London, where he failed to make the podium, to winning the gold for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, to then turning pro with Shane and Barry McGuigan and embarking on a blistering journey through the ranks to win his first world title after just 15 fights, his progress has been astonishing to witness.

Very few fighters, even champions, find themselves in the position that Josh Taylor finds himself in now after just 16 fights — on the cusp of fighting to become an undisputed champion — and for a young man from Prestonpans just outside Edinburgh, this is what dreams are made of. 

Even so, based on a recent exchange on social media, there are still some yet to be fully convinced where Taylor is concerned. One of them is retired undefeated champion Andre Ward, who came out recently and critiqued Taylor over the fact that in his opinion “can’t fight on the inside.” The latter took sufficient umbrage at this to bite back in a tweet alleging that “Andre Ward doesn’t know shit about boxing.”

In fairness neither is true. Josh Taylor is at his best fighting at medium and short range, which his victory over Prograis among others proved, and Ward is currently one of the most astute analysts and pundits in the sport. 

Ward, it seems clear, was speaking as someone who like many Americans believes that European and British fighters belong on a lower tier than their US counterparts when it comes to skillset, with his view on Taylor’s strengths and attributes jaundiced thereby.

Whatever the case, tonight Josh Taylor will have the chance to make the storied American and any other doubters eat their words. As for his opponent, Apinun Khongsong, a rare chance presents itself to upset the odds and become a unified world champion over a mere 12 or less rounds of boxing.

All in all then the stage is set for an intriguing night of boxing in the east end of London, a part of the world more synonymous with the sport than most, where you imagine that even Covid-19 would think twice before getting too big for its boots on a normal Saturday night.

John’s book — ‘This Boxing Game: A Journey in Beautiful Brutality’ — is available from all major booksellers.