The problem with any peak or summit is that, by its very definition, it is followed by a drop.<\/p>\n
Sometimes that can be a pleasant amble back down to sea level. But, more often than not, a sheer precipice awaits those who reach their apex.<\/p>\n
For Josh Taylor<\/a>, becoming Britain\u2019s first four-belt undisputed champion means he will forever breathe that rarefied air. That he did it in only his 18th fight, dropping unbeaten WBC and WBO champion Jose Ramirez<\/a> on his way to a unanimous decision, makes his accomplishment even more special.<\/p>\n Since that night inside a Las Vegas COVID bubble in May 2021, things started to sour. <\/p>\n First it was his controversial victory over Jack Catterall<\/a> in the first defence of his undisputed title. He won a split decision, but it was not vintage Taylor, who was dropped in the eighth. Many people scoring the fight thought Catterall did enough to claim the belts. Things went from bad to worse within weeks of the defeat, as a long-standing eye problem gave him no choice but to retire. No real swansong, no chance to leave the sport on a high. Just a sheer drop.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the end of the road for me,\u201d Taylor, 34, tells The Ring<\/a>. \u201cBut what am I going to do now? Boxing\u2019s all I\u2019ve known for 24 years. My life was over in a sense. I\u2019d never thought about it before, but what do you do? What do I do with myself? All of a sudden, I was stuck at home. Everyone is at work \u2013 my mates, my missus, my mum and dad, everyone at work. I\u2019m trying to come to terms with my career being over and I\u2019m just stuck at home with nothing to do. I couldn\u2019t deal with it. I just couldn\u2019t deal with being on my own with nothing to do. It was like, \u2018Where has it all gone?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThe best way to describe it is like a cliff \u2026 like falling off a cliff. Because of the way it finished, after having surgery, it was sudden. I probably could have continued, but I\u2019m not willing to play with fire when it comes to my eyesight. Leg, shoulder? Maybe. But not my eyes. So, I had to stop straight away, and then I\u2019m stuck in the house. There\u2019s only so much you can do around the house, only so much gardening, before I\u2019m just asking, \u2018What am I going to do now?\u2019 <\/p>\n “I couldn\u2019t handle that question. I ended up finding myself in the pub or I\u2019d be at the house having a drink. Then I had a fall at home. I fell and cracked my head open in the house.\u201d<\/p>\n If the summit in 2021 was easy to identify, this was undoubtedly his nadir.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the lowest point of all,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cAnd it could have ended up a lot worse. I didn\u2019t just fall. I was drunk and I was arguing with my dad when I fell and banged my head. He was obviously just trying to pull me out of my slump, but I fell and smacked my head on the corner of the skirting board. It could have been disastrous. I just got a little cut on my head in the end and then things started to change for me in Belfast.\u201d<\/p>\n Taylor was invited to the city to do some commentary on the IBF welterweight fight between Lewis Crocker and Paddy Donovan at Windsor Park on September 13<\/a>. Not only did he suddenly feel like he had some purpose back in his life, but the adulation of the crowd in Belfast felt like the boost he needed at exactly the right time. \u201cI had a great time in Belfast working on the boxing,\u201d he said. \u201cHundreds of people were coming up and chatting and asking for pictures. Everyone wishing me all the best and I thought, ‘Wow, maybe I have had an impact on this sport.\u2019 That picked me up. But then I woke up to the awful news about Ricky Hatton on the Sunday and I thought, \u2018’esus Christ, that\u2019s my hero.’ Obviously, we all knew about his different battles with depression, so that news gave me a horrible wake-up call. At that moment I knew I needed to pull myself together, to go out and do things.<\/p>\n \u201cI came home from Belfast that day and any bit of drink I had in the house I took and threw it in the bin. It has done me the world of good really. I was in a very low place. I don\u2019t like using the word depressed because it\u2019s thrown around a lot, but I was on a real dip. I just couldn\u2019t deal with not being able to box. But I came through that awful patch of four, five, maybe six weeks. That was my slump, but I\u2019m through the other side of it. Now I have the rest of my life ahead of me.\u201d<\/p>\n Taylor spoke to The Ring the day after the birth of his sister\u2019s first child. \u201cI\u2019m Uncle Josh now,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He also has designs on returning to boxing in some capacity, whether that be in the gym or behind the mic. After taking a step back from his despair, he can suddenly see his options.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a lot going on,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cI just couldn\u2019t really see it. I\u2019ve invested my money wisely, so I can get into helping out at the gym with the kids, which I do enjoy. Of course I\u2019ll be helping out by being an uncle, too. I\u2019ve got a lot to look forward to and a lot to live for.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I can adjust to life properly now, be an uncle and also try and maybe find a new champion at Lochend. Maybe I\u2019ll get my own gym down the line, but then I\u2019d spend the next half of my life stuck in a gym again. Maybe I\u2019ll get stuck into my other hobbies. I\u2019ve got my motorbikes and stuff, but also I can just enjoy the simple pleasures in life.\u201d<\/p>\n The nature of boxing is that Taylor\u2019s turmoil will not be exclusive to him. There will be men and women all over the world about to turn the corner from their life as a fighter directly onto civvy street.<\/p>\n \u201cMy advice to them would be to try not to dwell on it too much,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt\u2019s near enough impossible not to dwell on it, but try not to do it too much because that is what gets you down. You are better off looking at the things you did achieve. You have lived your dream. For however long or short that was, you did live your dream.<\/p>\n \u201cYou tried your best, you\u2019ve done well and now it\u2019s time to go and live life to the fullest and do whatever you want to do. So don\u2019t be sad. Be proud and happy with what you\u2019ve done. Now you\u2019ve got the time to go and find yourself a new mountain to climb.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The problem with any peak or summit is that, by its very definition, it is followed by a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,6842,6836,6841,6840,6834,6102,6837,6838,6839,6835,6588,6847,6846,6830,6828,6829,6844,6831,6827,6848,6843,101,6845,6826,6833,56,54,55,6832],"class_list":{"0":"post-171791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-community","10":"tag-boxing-fights","11":"tag-boxing-history","12":"tag-boxing-interviews","13":"tag-boxing-magazine","14":"tag-boxing-news","15":"tag-boxing-photos","16":"tag-boxing-rankings","17":"tag-boxing-schedule","18":"tag-boxing-videos","19":"tag-boxing-results","20":"tag-disqualification","21":"tag-draw","22":"tag-fight","23":"tag-fighter","24":"tag-fighter-news","25":"tag-knockout","26":"tag-latest-boxing-matches","27":"tag-ring","28":"tag-ring-magazine","29":"tag-split-decision","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-technical-knockout","32":"tag-the-ring","33":"tag-top-fighters","34":"tag-uk","35":"tag-united-kingdom","36":"tag-unitedkingdom","37":"tag-upcoming-boxing-matches"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
As it turned out, that win over Catterall in February 2022 would go down as the 19th and final victory of his memorable career. A trio of defeats followed. First against Teofimo Lopez<\/a> in a challenge for the WBO 140-pound title, before Catterall had his long-awaited revenge two years and three months on from their first fight.
Taylor took a year out of the ring thereafter, but the Scottish southpaw returned with a fresh deal with Frank Warren in May. In what was supposed to be something of a homecoming for \u201cThe Tartan Tornado,\u201d underdog Ekow Essuman<\/a> boxed his way to a unanimous points win at SSE Hydro in Glasgow<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Then, the day after the fight, Taylor saw the news that shocked British boxing to its very core<\/a>.<\/p>\n