Eddie Hearn is interested in signing Josh Taylor and making a quick move rebuild the work on him before dropping out with the Sharks at 140. The 34-year-old former undisputed light welterweight champion and two-time Olympian Taylor (19-2, 13 KOs) has lost his last two fights and is winless since in 2022.
The rebuilding job that Hearn plans to do with Taylor will likely be similar to how he rebuilt Anthony Joshua by noting second-tier opposition to make him look like 24k gold before throwing him with a live shark at 140 and watching the feeding frenzy.
It would be a good idea for Hearn not to invest as much time and effort in rebuilding work as he did with Joshua because that chewed up two years of his career. What are you wasting?
Hearn can use Taylor as an opponent for his Matchroom fighters, Subriel Matias, Regis Progais, Liam Paro, Richardson Hitchins and Jack Catterall. Taylor has already beaten Catterall twice, so there is less need for a third after he was beaten in his rematch last May.
It would be better for Hearn to start matching Catterall against better fighters than continuing with the rerun cycle with Taylor. The rivalry is already played out. If all Caterall is going to do in his career is fight Taylor over and over again, that’s pathetic.
This would likely be a short contract that Hearn gives Taylor, similar to the one he gave Shakur Stevenson in his backup job for the struggling New Jersey native.
It would be crazy for Hearn to sign Taylor to a six-fight contract and watch him lose his next fight to a lower-level guy. Taylor has arguably lost his last three fights since 2022, and one of those defeats was a 12-round one-sided decision loss to Teofimo Lopez.
It was embarrassing to watch how outclassed Taylor was, losing to a fighter who was seen as a career disadvantage. Teofimo has looked terrible in three of his last four fights. The only one he did well in was against Josh.
Hearn says the “numbers” will work for him to sing the Scottish fighter Taylor to his company Matchroom Boxing. He points out that Taylor is used to making money in the past for his fights.
With a record of 0-2 in his last two fights, Taylor may need to drop his asking price if he is to be challenged by Hearn in one of his rescue missions.
“We talked with him. I like Josh a lot. He has to work for everyone, and this is also us. Obviously, he is used to making a lot of money, and there is some rebuilding work to be done, in my opinion. I think that we want to build some momentum, said Eddie Hearn iFL TVThey are talking about wanting to sign former undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor to their Matchroom company.
If Taylor wants a fortune to sign with Matchroom, it won’t work. He can still see himself as a world champion, and that could be a problem because those years are long gone. He gave up his belts, and then was beaten by washed-up Teofimo, making him look better than he really is at this stage of his sunken career.
“Obviously, those fights, the rebuilding fights, are not necessarily going to be (Liam) Paro and (Jack) Catterall 3. There is a small stage. It will work for everyone on the numbers, but if it did, I’d like to bring Josh to Matchroom. If the numbers don’t work out, then I might look elsewhere. He’s a good fighter, and I still think he’s got a lot to give,” Hearn said.
