McGuigan says Josh Taylor will stop Viktor Postol

Boxingnews24.com

By Trevor McIntyre

Barry McGuigan says unbeaten #2 WBC Josh Taylor (12-0, 11 KOs) will not only defeat #1 WBC Viktor Postol (29-1, 12 KOs) in their fight next month on June 23, but he’ll stop him in the process when the two face each other at The SSE Hydro, in Glasgow, Scotland.

Taylor, 5’10”, will be giving up an inch in height and four inches in reach to the 5’11” Postol. While that’s a fairly long reach advantage the 34-year-old Postol has going for him in this fight, it’s not enough to guarantee a win, as he lost in the past to Terence Crawford, who almost the same reach as Taylor.

The winner of the Postol vs. Taylor fight will lock themselves in for a title shot against WBC light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez. They won’t have to worry about WBC interim light welterweight champion Regis Prograis, because he’s going to be tied down for a while in fighting in the World Boxing up. That would be really tough if Taylor or Postol had to take on Prograis for the right to face Ramirez. It could be a step too far for them.

“Listen, Viktor Postol is a top-quality opponent, better than anyone else that Josh has met so far,” said McGuigan to the heraldscotland.com. “But I don’t just think he’ll beat Postol – I think he’ll stop him. The great thing is that he doesn’t just hit you hard – he hits you so often that it wears you down and the sheer volume of punches disorientates opponents,” McGuigan said.

A knockout victory for the 27-year-old Taylor over Postol will be a big deal, as the Ukrainian fighter has only lost once in his career and that was to Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in July 2016. That loss had to have taken something out of Postol, because he’s only fought once since then in beating Jamshidbek Najmiddinov (18-1, 12 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision in September of 2017.

Being inactive at 34 is not the wisest move for Postol. He’s got to hope that he’s in top form when he gets inside the ring with Taylor, because he’s been active with his own career. Taylor fought four times in 2017, and once in 2018. Taylor hasn’t yet fought a good 140 lb. fighter yet. His recent victories have come against these fighters:

– Winston Campos

– Miguel Vazuez

– Ohara Davies

– Warren Joubert

– Alonso Olvera

– Dave Ryan

“The fact we’re putting him in with Postol this early shows you the faith we have in Josh,” said McGuigan. “This kid is already the most exciting fighter in Britain. He’s also one of the most exciting boxers in the world and, after this fight, everyone will know about him.”

A victory over Postol will be a big victory for sure, but Taylor will need to beat Ramirez for him to get full recognition from the boxing world. Postol’s star has dimmed since his loss to Crawford in 2016. For a brief period of time, Postol had a lot of fans talking about him after he stopped Lucas Matthysse in the 10th round to capture the vacant WBC light welterweight title in October 2015. But in Postol’s next fight, he was easily beaten by Crawford and that took the wind out of his sails.

Taylor turned pro in 2015 three years after competing in the 2012 Olympics. He’s looked great in being moved quickly by his handlers towards a world title shot. Taylor was probably ready to fight better opposition like Postol right off the bat in 2015, but he was held back until now. Regis Prograis believes that Taylor will beat Postol, and then go on defeat Jose Ramirez to win the WBC light welterweight title. If that happens, Prograis and Taylor could be facing each other next year. Prograis will need to do his part by winning the World Boxing Super Series light welterweight tournament, but he’s expected to. Prograis is one of the hardest punchers in the light welterweight division.

McGuigan believes that Taylor will become a huge star after he beats Postol, and he thinks that he might not be back fighting in Scotland for a while. McGuigan says Taylor will become a world traveler after this and will be fighting all over the world. The best way for Taylor to become a star overnight would be for him to compete in the World Boxing Super Series 140lb tournament.

The WBSS tourney starts in September, and he has some very good fighters competing in it like Prograis, Kiryl Relikh, Ivan Baranchyk and Anthony Yigit. If Taylor can beat Postol and then win the WBSS tournament, it would be a big deal. However, it would get in the way of Taylor fighting WBC 140lb champion Ramirez for his belt. Top Rank, the promoters for the 25-year-old Ramirez, don’t plan on having him compete in the WBSS tournament. That means that Taylor will need to wait until the tournament is done before he fights Ramirez, and that’s if he doesn’t get beaten along the way.

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