WBO & Ring magazine super-lightweight title holder, Josh Taylor, could well be returning to action in his home city of Edinburgh at Easter Road stadium if reports from ESPN are proven to be correct. The contest will take place of May 27 according to ESPN following the revelations that the former undisputed 140lb king Taylor is to fight Teofimo Lopez who was previously the undisputed champion at 135lbs. The proposed contest has come out of the blue following Taylor was set to face domestic rival Jack Catterall in an highly anticipated rematch. The rematch was set to take place on at least two occasions however injuries to Taylor had seen those attempts to rematch fall by the wayside.
Promoter of the stated Taylor v Catteraall rematch, Ben Shalom, stated that he was “Just waiting on a rescheduled date because that is what Jack wanted as it was the fight which he has been waiting for over twelve months for. It is what I wanted, Jack wanted, Josh wanted and what Top Rank wanted.”
Shalom states that there is a signed contract between the pairing and that Top Rank had given clearance for Jack Catterall to box on Shalom’s upcoming March 25th promotion in Manchester on the provision that Catterall would not seek to push back any date for the Taylor rematch. Dates were given to Shalom towards the final week in May or early June which does coincide with Taylor’s proposed bout with Lopez. No comment from Top Rank has been forthcoming at time of writing.
Easter Road is the home of Hibernian FC of which Josh Taylor supports and has a capacity of almost 20,500 in the all seater stadium. Located in the Lieth area of the city, Hibernian and Easter Road are key in popular culture within the city and boxing’s return to Edinbrugh would be marked with intrigue and anticipation after several years of boxing being absent from the Scottish capital.
