With a record of 21-1-1 & recently linking up with MTK Global, Manchester’s Liam Taylor is primed for an assault on titles domestically & beyond, recently Luke caught up with ‘Dynamo’ to get his thoughts on his career so far & future plans…
LC: Hi Liam, thanks for speaking to SimBoxx, I guess the obvious place to start is how are keeping during the lockdown situation?
LT: Yeah I’m doing good considering, abit frustrating with no gyms to go to but I have been training at home and doing plenty of running so that’s keeping me going.
LC: Has it just been cardio that you’ve been focusing on the most? How you’ve dealt with no sparring? Do you feel it’s a mind over matter situation?
LT: Yeah mostly cardio and body weight circuits, the hardest part of it is not doing the punching side of things, so pads, bags and sparring but I have still been doing certain shadow boxing drills we do in the gym, but it is definitely mind over matter, everyone is in the same position so it’s not like I’m at a disadvantage, just have to see the bigger picture sometimes with the stress the NHS is under is massive so it’s important to just stay at home.
LC: How have you adjusted mentally to training alone with out the motivation from working alongside the other lads in the gym?
LT: It’s definitely difficult to find motivation when certain things aren’t set out like they are in the gym with the lads, but I set myself goals for times and amount of reps on certain things and that motivates me enough to train hard and keep pushing myself.
LC: Something I was eager to discuss is the recent announcement of you joining up with MTK, a brilliant move & one that sets you up ideally for when boxing resumes…
LT: It definitely is a move that made sense for my career, I have seen in recent months how good they have managed Terry (Flanaghan) and after the disappointment when the boxing board didn’t order a rematch against Jenkins I thought the MTK move made sense as they have very good resources and put on exciting fights.
LC: MTK are really making serious head way in the boxing world, signing some of the biggest names & putting on some great shows, how did the opportunity to work with them come around?
LT: Obviously Terry is now working with them and has been for 12 months, my coach Steve knows how good they are and when the British and Commonwealth fight didn’t get approved again we realised it was probably the right time to speak to MTK and see what they had to offer.
LC: Looking back at the Chris Jenkins fight, a frustrating result, can I get your take on the fight & how it ended?
LT: Yeah the result was very frustrating especially after waiting 10 months to get the shot after being made mandatory early 2019 to only have the fight in the November, I believe I would have won the fight very convincingly after the camp I had. Going into it I was very fit and strong and that showed in the 4 rounds that the fight lasted, he was down in the second and I felt I was too big and strong for him, it ended on the cut from an accidental head clash which is very frustrating , I wouldn’t have liked to won the title in that fashion but I think I more than deserved a rematch straight away which hasn’t come off and is very disappointing.
LC: As you say it’s very disappointing that the rematch wasn’t ordered immediately given the circumstances, was there an explanation given as to why it wasn’t ordered?
LT: No all that was said is that Jenkins is fighting Johnny Garton, who he beat convincingly to win the belt and I was ordered to fight in another eliminator which makes no sense, the most frustrating thing is that Connor Benn was made mandatory challenger ahead of me which considering he hasn’t fought a British fighter in over two years is baffling.
LC: If we can take a look back over your career, you’ve amassed a solid 21-1-1 record, your sole defeat coming to Tyrone Nurse, a loss that you would go on to avenge, can I get your thoughts on that first Nurse fight, how it felt to lose for the first time & how did you bounce back from that setback?
LT: Losing that fight was hard to take at first but the positives that came from it was good as well, having only getting the phone call on the Thursday morning off my manager Steve Wood and asking what my weight was and if I fancied stepping in to fight Nurse on the Saturday as Chris Jenkins had fell ill, obviously I had only ever done 6 rounders and had 11 fights – Nurse was maybe 30 fights in and was preparing to fight 12 rounds for the British that told in the first fight as my pace dipped after 4 rounds but it was still a competitive fight, I then knew what I needed to do to improve as a fighter so I wouldn’t really say it was a major setback.
LC: Looking back, the positives far out weighed any negatives as you say from that bout, to be very competitive in a fight that was at the time a huge step up for you
You rattled off 8 consecutive wins on the back of that before rematch if with Tyrone Nurse in 2018, what was your mentality heading into the rematch & how eager was you to get the win?
LT: That fight came about at the perfect time, I was in L.A with Terry training over there just for experience really and 4 weeks before the fight happened I got a phone call asking if I wanted to fight nurse as Steve Wood had spoke to Nurse’s manager and he was willing to take the fight, going into it I knew I had the beating of him from how much I had improved since being trained by Steve Maylett so I was very confident in getting the win.
LC: Looking beyond the current situation, once Boxing is back up & running at full capacity what can we expect from Liam Taylor moving forward?
LT: To be involved in exciting fights against the top fighters in the Uk and Europe.
LC: To finish with we have our ‘5 to Finish’, 5 rapid fire questions that just require a one or two word answer…
1. Biggest inspiration?
LT: To keep winning!
2. Favourite fight of your career?
LT: Tyrone Nurse rematch
3. All time favourite boxer?
LT: Sugar Ray Leonard
4. All time favourite fight?
LT: Arturo Gatti v Mick Ward 1
5. Ideal opponent (if you could box anyone)
LT: Crawford, Spence or Pacquiao!
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