Josh Taylor vs. Viktor Postol – Results

By Scott Gilfoid: Josh Taylor (13-0, 11 KOs) defeated former WBC light welterweight champion Viktor Postol (29-2, 12 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in a poorly scored WBC 140lb title eliminator on Saturday night at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. Fighting in front of his home boxing fans Glasgow, Taylor won by the scores 117-110, 118-110 and 119-108.

Boxing News 24 scored it for Taylor by a 7 rounds to 5 score. The scoring by the three judges was worse than awful. To say that all Postol deserved was two rounds was an insult to him, and the other judges giving him one round and 3 rounds. It’s just so sad. It’s more of a reflection on them than anything else, because the boxing public saw for themselves what the fight was like. It wasn’t the one-sided contest the three judges saw it as tonight. I mean, I don’t think Postol ever had a chance of winning a decision against Taylor going into Glasgow, but I never thought he would be on the receiving end of such one-sided scoring.

Taylor’s better engine helped carry the day. He had the better stamina during the last four rounds. The scores from the judges were embarrassingly bad, and far worse than the controversial scores in the Gennady Golovkin vs. Saul Canelo Alvarez fight. Postol hurt the younger and stronger Taylor badly on at least two occasions during the fight. Postol was able to fight Taylor to a standstill in the first eight rounds of the fight. Heck, I had Postol ahead going into the 7th. He had Taylor looking mortal with his ability to control the action on the outside. Taylor was at his best when he was in close, but Postol was smart in keeping the action on the outside, and using his superior ring IQ.

After Taylor knocked Postol down in the 10th, the Ukrainian talent got back up and was able to make it out of the round by staying on the outside and punishing the Scottish fighter with jabs and hard rights. Taylor was able to get the better of Postol in rounds 11 and 12, but it wasn’t easy. Postol kept nailing him with shots, taking advantage of his inexperience and his tendency to slug without thinking. Taylor was like a taller version of Lucas Matthysse, and Postol did an excellent job of taking advantage of his aggression. Taylor’s power punches helped him win the final rounds, but he was getting tagged constantly and not looking like the next coming for the 140 lb. weight class.

Taylor’s left hand punching power helped him come on in the last three rounds to edge the fight. Postol was getting nailed by huge left hands in the later rounds by Taylor and that turned the tide of the fight. It’s just lucky for Taylor that he wasn’t inside the ring with Regis Prograis because he would have been wiped out in a hurry. Prograis make Taylor an easy knockout victim. Taylor isn’t that kind of talent. He’s more of a younger version of Postol, but without his boxing skills. Taylor doesn’t possess the talent that Postol has. Postol is just younger, stronger and was fighting at home. With a good set of judges with their eyes open tonight, Taylor would have barely won the fight.

Taylor was getting away with a massive amount of roughhouse tactics that the British referee Ian John Lewis was allowing him to get away with. I saw countless incidents where Taylor should have been docked points for his roughing up of Postol, but the referee Lewis did zero to address it.

Postol came into the fight tonight after two consecutive poor performances against Jamshidbek Najmiddinov last year and Terence Crawford in 2016. Postol beat Najmiddinov and lost to Crawford. The way Postol looked in those fights had many boxing fans believing he would have zero chance of beating Taylor tonight. Indeed, the odds-makers had Taylor as a heavy favorite going into the fight. This was

supposed to be a slam dunk win for Taylor over a past his best fighter in Postol. Instead, Taylor struggled through the first eight rounds and had to come on strong to barely beat Postol in the end by a 12 round decision. Forget about the crazy scores turned in by the judges. Take it from me, Taylor BARELY beat Postol tonight. Yeah, Taylor won, but it was very, very close and he looked awful through most of it. I was more impressed with the boxing skills of Postol than I was with Taylor. The only thing that kept Postol from winning in the true sense was his stamina and advanced age that let him down.

Taylor was better than Postol at the end in coming on strong in the last part of the fight to edge the Ukrainian fighter, but it was far from a dominating performance. I hate to drizzle on Taylor’s parade but he looked something awful for most of the fight and I’m being kind here. For all the hype behind Taylor, he was mediocre at best against an over-the-hill Postol. It’s a good thing that Taylor didn’t fight Postol four years ago when he was younger and fighting at a higher level. If this had been a prime Postol, Taylor would have had his backside handed to him. Of course, with this set of judges working the fight, I’m not sure that Postol would have won even under the best of circumstances.

There were many rounds that appeared to be even. Taylor did enough in the last four rounds to pull out the division after knocking the 34-year-old Postol down with a left hook in round 10. Postol suffered a cut in round above his right eye.

The only thing the judges got right tonight was giving it to the 27-year-old Taylor. He definitely won the fight, but not by the wide scores handed down by the three judges. The reality is Taylor BARELY won the fight, and his stock goes WAY down in the 140lb weight class now. What we learned from tonight’s fight is Taylor has absolutely no chance of beating interim WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis, who is considered by far to be the best fighter in the 140lb division today. There’s no question that Taylor would have been completely obliterated by Prograis if he’d been inside the ring with him tonight. The way Taylor looked against Postol, he will never beat WBC light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez. I mean, Taylor is now the secondary mandatory challenger to Ramirez, and he’ll likely get first dibs in facing him due to Prograis competing in the World Boxing Super Series 140lb tournament for the remainder of 2018.

If Taylor does take part in the World Boxing Super Series tournament, as some believe he will, he’s not going to do well once he meets up with Prograis. I’m not even sure that Taylor can beat Ivan Baranchyk. That would be a very tough fight for Taylor. If he does beat Baranchyk, he’ll know he was in a fight. It’s not going to be an easy win. Taylor will gain a lot of respect from the fans if he takes part in the WBSS tournament, but he sure as heck isn’t going to beat a talent like Prograis. I still doubt that Taylor will take part in the WBSS tournament because he’ll likely go after a fight against WBC light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez if his wily promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing can line up the fight straightaway.