Congratulations go out to “The Engine,” Ekow Essuman, and to anyone who dared to have a bet on the big underdog going into last night’s exciting fight in Glasgow. Essuman shocked the odds along with former unified 140-pound champ Josh Taylor, as Taylor made the move up to the welterweight division.
Essuman’s 12-round decision win may well rank up there with the 2025 Upset of the Year contenders when the time comes to dish out the awards. But right now – as the deserving Essuman, 22-1(8) looks to bag himself another big fight and win – the question is: what next for 34-year-old Taylor?
Taylor has now lost three fights in a row, and in truth, he has not looked anything like great in a fight in over three years. The move up to the 147-pound division was meant to see Taylor unleash a new lease of life, yet he was beaten in his homecoming. It was a good action fight last night – and let it be said of Taylor that, win or lose, he is never in a boring or dull fight – but the adage says three strikes and you’re out.
Can Taylor possibly carry on, or is he finished as an elite fighter?
“I’m going to take a little bit of time just to think about what’s coming,” Taylor said to BBC Scotland today. “I’ll just relax for a couple of weeks and not make any hasty decisions. If I really feel that I’m not performing, I’ll hang them up. I’m very disappointed in the result. Three back-to-back defeats….I took it quite tough. If I’m going to keep going, I need to get more active and get out at least a couple of times a year.”
But can Taylor, at his age, and after having had some hard fights, all of them 12-round distance fights, come back and string together two fights, wins, of course, inside a year? Activity might be the least of it with Taylor; wear and tear may be his biggest enemy at this point in time.
Taylor, 19-3(13) was a superb fighter in his prime, this at 140, and he was a pound-for-pound star. But now, with so many miles on the clock (and suggestions that the Scot has not lived the life of an athlete outside of the ring have been heard for some time), it really could be the end for “The Tartan Tornado.”