Former undisputed junior welterweight champion Josh Taylor believes that he’s more than capable of getting revenge if a rematch takes place with Teofimo Lopez.
Earlier this year, Lopez capture the WBO title by outboxing Taylor in a one-sided fight at New York’s Madison Square Garden Theater.
Taylor felt he started well in the early rounds.
“I started off really well. I came out and I sussed him out straight away. He was doing everything what we planned, what we thought he was going to do,” Taylor told Sky Sports. “I was keeping him on the end of my jab, a couple of left hands, a couple of body shots and stuff. It felt great. It was quite easy.”
But around the fourth, Taylor explains that his legs were no longer there.
“I usually get a little bit like that in fights and [think] alright the second wind will come. But it never came, it just got worse and worse and worse,” Taylor recalled. “He was just better than me on the night.
“If you’re not quite your best on the night you’re going to get beaten at the top level. It’s tiny margins at the top level which make the difference between winning and losing.”
Taylor is convinced that he could beat Lopez in a rematch.
“I took the fight, I felt great, great camp, made the weight well, just wasn’t good enough on the night, that’s all. But I do firmly believe, me at my best, I win that fight all day. I’ve got that self-belief and that self-confidence. I firmly believe that me at my best and performing at my best [against] Teofimo Lopez, I win that fight. Without a doubt,” Taylor said.
“I still took quite a lot of confidence from that fight. I still felt I won five of the 12 rounds. But I went out in the 11th and legs gone. I just battled on. You never know, you’ve always got that puncher’s chance. It wasn’t to be but I took a lot of confidence from it. I still did okay for the level of preparation that I could do.”