Josh Taylor Says He Strayed Away From Gameplan In Teofimo Lopez Bout

Josh Taylor has opened up on his loss to Teofimo Lopez to lose his WBO title on Saturday.

Taylor entered the fight with a ton of confidence and was the betting favorite to beat Lopez. Yet, the American arguably fought one of the best fights of his career and Lopez says his legs went out after the fourth or fifth round.

“After about four or five rounds, I told [trainer] Joe [McNally] in the corner, my legs are away,” Josh recounted to Boxing News. “My legs are gone here. And because I was having success with the left hand. I was kind of loading up a bit, stopped working off the front hand, and I strayed away from the game plan and never executed it that well. So from then on I had a couple of rounds off, then I had a good couple of rounds [in] nine, ten, and then the championship rounds, I just had nothing left. I had zero energy left. I was in impeccable shape. Just f*****g exhausted.”

Although the loss is disappointing, Josh Taylor says it does signal the end of his time at 140lbs. Taylor knows the weight cuts have gotten harder so he is finally ready to move up in weight and expects to fight much better.

“I think my days at 140 are really truly finished,” Taylor said. “I’ve been knocking at the door and moving up for the last couple years, and I think I’ve been to the well too many times at 140 so I’ll be moving up to welter for the rest of my career now. I’ll be much more comfortable. I’m not making any f—— excuses, this and that. Prepared really well in sparring. Went through two, three sparring partners. I felt I did the weight well, I felt I did the diet well and the weight cut well.”

Were you surprised Josh Taylor lost to Teofimo Lopez?