By Charles Brun: Undisputed 140-lb champion Josh Taylor urges boxing legend Manny Pacquiao to retire from the sport after his loss to Yordenis Ugas last Saturday night because he said it’s “sad” to watch the faded 42-year-old at this point.
The four-belt light welterweight champion Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs) says he would have beaten Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) with “no problems” had he been the one that shared the ring with last weekend.
I hate to say it, but that win for Taylor over Jose Ramirez has gone to his head, giving him delusions of grandeur.
You’d have a lot of boxing fans that would argue that Pacquiao would have beaten the brakes off Taylor without any problems last weekend had he been in the ring instead of the heavy-handed Ugas.
The thing about Josh Taylor is he doesn’t have much hand speed, and he’s there to be hit. He’s not like Ugas with that steel curtain defense that he uses to block incoming shots.
Taylor’s defense is his offense. When he’s throwing shots, his opposition shell up and stops throwing.
Against a fighter like Pacquiao, Taylor would be getting machine-gunned all night and would be rattled to pieces.
I mean, Taylor barely beat Jose Ramirez, and with a different referee working on the night, and if the contest had been staged in Southern California, he might have lost.
Taylor reacts to Pacquiao loss
“It was sad to see my idol [Pacquiao] looking old. I really hope he packs it in now and says: ‘That’s it,” said undisputed 140-lb champion Josh Taylor to Sky Sports.
“A fighter of his magnitude, having fights like that is damaging his legacy.
Unfortunately, we have to take the Scottish native Taylor at face value about his bold talk, as he BARELY beat WBC/WBO 140-lb champion Jose Ramirez by a narrow 12 round unanimous decision in his last fight on May 22nd.
Ramirez would have beaten him if you took away the two sneaky knockdowns in which Taylor was punching on the break. Really, Taylor failed to prove that he was the better fighter on the night.
If anything, the match should have been scored a draw, and that’s why it’s difficult to view Taylor as the #1 guy in the 140-lb division. I’m sure Ramirez would agree with that.
Taylor: I’d have beaten Pacquiao no problems
“I’d like to see him go out while he’s at the top,” said Taylor. “If I had been there on Saturday, I would have beaten him with no problems.
“Call me crazy but, even when Manny Pacquiao was very good, I still think I would have had a great chance against him,” said Taylor.
It’s too bad Taylor will never get a chance to test his theory on what he would have done against Pacquiao because the fight is NOT going to happen.
If Pacquiao does come back for one more match, it’ll be against Yordenis to avenge his loss. The only exception I could see Pacquiao making is if Errol Spence Jr. made a fast recovery from his left eye injury and was ready to face him in January. I don’t see that happening, though.