Hey James,

My favorite young fighter is a Scottish kid named Josh “The Tartan Tornado” Taylor. In his 14th professional fight he faced Viktor Postol in Glasgow tonight in a #1 contender eliminator match for the WBC Light Welterweight title. The bookies had it as a 50/50 pick em fight which was pretty accurate because there was plenty of back and forth action. Taylor switches between southpaw and orthodox and is always exciting to watch. His promoter is the great Barry McGuigan (I can’t believe I forgot to mention him on the podcast, he’s one of my all time favorites) and he’s trained by Barry’s son Shane, who has one of the finest heads of hair I’ve ever seen on a man. Viktor Postol is a veteran fighter from Ukraine and has wins over Lucas Matthysse and Demarcus Corley.

This was truly a great fight to watch and I can’t wait to see more from Josh Taylor. Now that Terence Crawford has moved on to 147, I think Taylor is the stud horse at light welter. Check the fight out when you get a chance James, and let me know what you think.

And here’s a highlight reel for him too:

-John Paul Barber

John Paul Barber, thanks for the heads up. He's affine young fighter with a well rounded skull.

Overall, this fine fighter's command of is feet is unparalleled among current fighters I have watched lately. He has no dead foot at any time. he is always gripping and driving or coiling, so when he gets into mugging range you may see the other guy crumple from contact. He has that driving rear foot that Kovalev has but has a grippy lead foot too.

In the first fight is low hooks need tightening up and his high hooks are real high, perfectly targeted at the temple. That level change is very effective but he needs to shovel low from a guard rather than reach.

That jab to the body in the opening drive was nicely driven, but he will get burned doing that against a guy at his level. He needs to make this into a gambit, feinting to the body 1 in three, angling off with safety in in thee and driving it in 1 in 3.

Again, in the second fight his high, lunging pronated jab, followed by a driving right is magic, though I would want him to clean up with a high driving jab against better opposition.

The ref in the second fight is to be commended. This guy is an angle dissection machine with consistent power in both hands from all angles.

As illustrated against a smaller men I the third fight he has possibly the best jab in the game since Larry Holmes.

4th fight: his shovel hooks are nice and crisp though sometimes reaching. But the fact that he has a sick Philly hook and possibly the best pronated hook I have seen is hugely impressive. Most guys that throw the pronated jab use it for cutting with rising elbow and slicing downward with the two big knuckles but this guy drives it from the elbow like a Philly hook, engaging tricep and shoulder instead of bicep. Most men cannot throw this punch with hurting themselves.

His use of the cross face, wing block and elbow press are at Duran levels.

John Paul, this dude is a fucking monster. If he were a heavy weight he'd have Holmes' jab, Razor Rudick's uppercut, Holyfield's punch count, Frazier's hook, Norton's hook, Witherspoon's overhand and Foreman's body attack.

Did you not hear the psychic scream from the South American, "Get me the fuck out of here!" ?

The footwork he uses finishing this guy is knife-fighting foot work.

He worked over #5 so bad that when he hit him in the groin the guy felt luck that he took the shot on his only armored part. He's like Triple-G without patience. He puts on a wing block, elbow press and shouldering clinic as he gets behind even this cagey guy. He has tactile sense like a collegiate wrestler. Vasquez has top rate defense and is all but helpless, because at this weight class, that kind of body punching is not sustainable by the receiver. This as my weight class and I was cringing the entire time.

Against #6 you get level-change clinic, unparalleled up and down aggression. This black kid would KO most heavyweights in the gym if he uncorked. this is a dangerous dude, a primed version of my man Oliver and he's drowning in a river of punches. Note his Genghis Khan level of mercy at the end.

Great pick Mister Barber!