In an conversation with Fight Hype, Josh Taylor talks about his upcoming showdown with Teofimo Lopez and explains why he feels he has the definitive edge over his opponent. Taylor, who admits to having suffered from a bit of complacency after becoming undisputed champion, says he’s back to his old ways and ready to put on a show against Lopez. Check out some of what he had to say below.
Taylor on how he’s feeling heading into the fight with Lopez
“I’m absolutely 100%. I’ve just had a couple of runs, it happens to the best of us, you get injured, you get this and that. Look, that last one was quite a bad injury, but the other ones were sort of niggly ones. So I’m fully recovered now, managed the injury really well, got some good specialist guys around me to help manage it and alter my training camp to get my conditioning. You know, running, replacing it with different treadmills rather than hard surfaces. So I’ve altered my training and I’m in tip top condition.
“I think the reason why I got these injuries before was because I was outside the gym, after the Ramirez fight, I was outside the gym not living the life. I never seen the inside of a boxing gym for months on end. I was out eating good tasting, bad food and drinking a little bit too much. So a little bit of complacency crept in and I jump back into camp unfit, too heavy, and try to push it to get in fit and get in shape and that’s when injuries occur.”
On how he views the style matchup between Lopez and himself
“It’s got fireworks written all over it. He may come out and try to box and move and be slick but if he does that then that’s great, that’s perfect for me. But if he comes out and tries to have a go and tries to knock me out, even better because he leaves himself wide open. I’ll knock him out if he tries to have a firefight. So it’s gonna be great either way it goes. I’m completely confident in getting the win.
“I’m not too fussy about what he’s got. I’m not worried about what he has, I don’t think he’s going to have anything that I’ve never dealt with before. So I’m not worried about what he’s got but I’m pretty sure he’s gonna have a big surprise when he gets in the ring with me.”
On if he believes he’s the mentally stronger fighter
“I’m mentally stronger than all my opponents. I’m a mental fortress. I’m mentally stronger than just about anybody I know, and all my opponents as well…(Lopez) got doubts, he’s got self-doubts but he obviously displayed that in public, to the whole world. He’s now spinning it off as reverse psychology kind of thing, which I don’t think he’s smart enough to do that. He was speaking on emotion there. So he’s definitely got those huge self-doubts and does seem a little bit mentally fragile. But you take it with a pinch of salt, I’m preparing for the best version of Teofimo Lopez, which is a dangerous guy. So I’m fully switched on here.”