-
Nick Parkinson
Josh Taylor expects to defend his two junior welterweight world titles against Apinun Khongsong in Glasgow, Scotland, in May.
WBA-IBF champion Taylor (16-0, 12 KOs), 29, from Edinburgh in Scotland, is due to face mandatory challenger Khongsong (16-0, 13 KOs), 23, from Bangkok in Thailand, in a second defence after earning a majority decision over American Regis Prograis in an epic encounter in October.
‘The Tartan Tornado’ hopes victory over Khongsong will set up a title unification fight against Jose Carlos Ramirez (25-0, 17 KOs), 27, the Californian who holds the WBC and WBO belts.
Taylor is close to deciding who his new coach will be after splitting from promoter Cyclone Promotions and trainer Shane McGuigan in January, and then signing a promotional deal with Top Rank, with his fights to be broadcast on ESPN platforms.
“I’ll be definitely be fighting Khongsong next, and hopefully it will be in Glasgow and we are looking at May time for it,” Taylor told ESPN.
“He’s quite wild, and he punches quite hard, and I’ve got a task ahead of me in that fight.
“It’s just around the corner so I’m back in training and I need to get this one out the way. It’s an ideal fight for me to gel with my new coach as well. I need to spend this fight working with him getting to know to his ideas of doing thing and getting used to how will we work with each other.
“Going into the Ramirez fight with a brand new trainer wouldn’t be right. It’s an important fight and it wouldn’t be ideal going into that with a new trainer.”
Ramirez is expected to make a mandatory defence against Viktor Postol next, likely to be in the U.S. in May, and is also promoted by Top Rank.
“Ramirez is the target for this year,” Taylor added.
“I want to become undisputed champion, to say I’m the best in the division, and I want to do that this year, so hopefully we will get the Ramirez fight at the end of this year. He has a mandatory to get through as well.
“If I have to go to the U.S. for that fight, I will go there but I would rather it be on the east coast, and there’s a possibility he might come here [U.K.].”
Heavyweight Tyson Fury’s former trainer Ben Davison, 27, and Adam Booth, who has trained the likes of David Haye, are front runners to land the job vacancy to train Taylor. The 29-year-old fighter has had trials with both Booth and Davison, who Fury left in December.
“I’ve not really tried anyone else,” he added.
“I think Ben and Adam are the best in Britain so it will probably be between those two. Or if I don’t choose them I might go to the U.S. to work with someone over there.”
Taylor’s long-term ambition is to step up a division to welterweight, 147 pounds, where Americans Terence Crawford, Errol Spence and Shawn Porter are among the top names, along with all-time great Manny Pacquiao.
“Providing all goes well this year and I achieve my targets, the next goal would be to move up in weight, perhaps after a couple voluntary defences,” he added.
“I would go for the likes of Terence Crawford, Porter, Spence. There are some big names and big fights at that weight division and it’s definitely in the pipeline, going up to 147.”