Josh Taylor is targeting a clash against Terence Crawford after unifying the light-welterweight division with a victory against Jose Ramirez by unanimous decision.
Taylor became Britain’s first undisputed world champion in the four-belt era on Sunday in Las Vegas as all three judges scored it 114-112 in favour of the Scot.
The 30-year-old knocked his opponent down twice in successive rounds – the sixth and seventh – to add the WBO and WBC titles to the IBF and WBA belts he already held.
After making it 18 wins from 18 professional fights, Taylor was delighted that all of his hard work had paid off.
‘This has been 15 years in the making, dedicating my life to the sport, putting everything on hold, my social life, things I wanted to do with my friends, my family, my fiancee, things I have missed out on. It has all been geared to this moment, and it has finally paid off.
‘I don’t feel surprised, I really don’t feel surprised that I am undisputed champion. But it has not sunk in yet.’
The win meant Taylor is only the fifth man to unify all belts in one division in the four-belt era after Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor and Oleksandr Usyk.
The other man to do so in the light welterweight category is Crawford, who is now WBO welterweight champion.
A after defeating Ramirez, Taylor is eyeing a move up to welterweight fight the American.
‘We will see what comes my way, I am not going to be short of options,’ Taylor said. ‘Every fight is going to be huge. I will just ride the wave.
‘I would like to go up to 147 and chase some big fights like Terence Crawford. I am not going to call him out, he is a great fighter, but two undisputed champions going at it would be awesome.
‘There’s big fights at 140. I am not afraid to fight anybody. We might have to fight [Jack] Catterall first as well, he agreed to step aside to let this fight happen.
‘I’ve not boxed in my home city for a few years so I would love to take a big fight back to Scotland. Now is the time to get that fight at Edinburgh Castle or Easter Road.
‘I still don’t feel I have reached my full potential. Until I feel I don’t think I could do any better, I am going to keep going and going. I am hungry for more.’
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