“You don’t miss your water til your well runs dry.” 

William Bell, Singer/Songwriter, (1939-) 

As the pain seeps in to Josh Taylor’s morning, the bouquet of bruises blossom on his body and the tartan accoutrements are laundered for the flight home, or to which ever parasol laden destination he promised his new wife, the 32-year-old will be forced to face the truths that only defeat imparts. It is a reckoning all fighters must address at some point, with deference to the select band who escaped without its bitterness on their lips. The process tends to reveal the character of the man, and in Taylor’s case it is one who sneered at the contenders for his crown, draped in the veil of invincibility all unbeaten fighters live beneath.

Taylor’s defeat on Saturday night in the Madison Square Garden Theatre stripped away the veil and was sufficiently comprehensive to offer no alternate shroud of controversy or contention to hide behind. Just loss. Pure, naked, loss. The first, maybe the last. Perhaps the beginning of the end. Only time, and his next fight or two, can provide the answers. 

Continue reading “Josh Taylor and the loser’s lament” →