AS Britain’s first-ever unified champion of the world, there’s not too much in the boxing world Josh Taylor hasn’t seen. 

However, he admits the weeks following his recent win over Jack Catterall have been a whole new experience for him. 

There has been much controversy around his split decision victory over the Englishman, which the vast majority of fellow boxers, pundits, and fans made it known they disagreed vehemently with the judges' decision to award the win to the Scot, as well as the Speaker of the House of Commons sending a letter to the police regarding the contentious scoring of the bout. 

Taylor revealed the abuse not only he has experienced but also members of his family have had directed at them has been unlike anything he has ever known. 

From personal attacks to death threats, the backlash against the 31-year-old and the decision made by the judges has been astonishing. 

“It’s been farcical,” Taylor says. 

“Come on, it’s a boxing match – implying there’s something criminal going on, that just looks bad on boxing.  

“I thought (reporting it to the police) was a joke. 

“The fall-out has been crazy and I’ve never seen anything like it. 

“The abuse Danielle (Taylor’s fiancé) and my wee sister have had, it’s crazy. 

“It doesn’t bother me getting it but when you see it affecting your family, it’s tough. 

“When you see them getting personal attacks about their appearance and threats of violence, it’s really hard to take.” 

In less than seven years as a professional fighter, Taylor has accomplished more than most do in an entire career. 

And so, few would grudge his decision to delay his next competitive appearance until the tail-end of this year. 

The small matter of his wedding in June is his next major date in the diary. 

His stag-do last weekend was, he says, a welcome chance to let his hair down – although the recovery was even tougher than it has been from some of his fights – and his planned honeymoon means his next appearance is likely to be several months away. 

“I was away in Aberfeldy with some mates I hadn’t seen for a while for my stag,” he says.  

“I’ve been ticking over the last couple of weeks but I’ve not been back training this week as I’m still slightly hungover and tired! 

“It’s a bit of time to live my life a little bit and focus on some normal things.  

“I’ve not put on too much weight though, unlike the last time when I put on too much. I was walking around with a belly!

“But I think that was because I came back from Vegas and the media attention meant I was here, there and everywhere - I ended up taking almost three months off. 

“Now, I’ve got the wedding then the honeymoon and I want to give myself time to get ready for a fight.” 

Taylor’s victory over Caterall was far from convincing from a fighter who had been almost flawless in his 18 previous professional victories. 

And he admits that although he remains disappointed in himself about his performance that night, he is unequivocal in his belief that he won the bout and deserved to retain his unbeaten record. 

“It was my poorest performance since the 2014 Commonwealth Games. It’d been going up and up and I think I had a little bit of a lack of motivation for the fight because I had other goals and other things I wanted to do,” he says.
“But to beat champion, it has to be convincing and it wasn’t.  

“He should have had two or three points taken off him, never mind one point.  

“He had me in head locks, pulling my legs like it was UFC. I thought I was in wrestling match at times.
“If it had been the other way around and I had been the challenger, nothing would have been said.  

“I think the backlash was because it was such a high-profile fight, for all the belts and that’d never been done before in the UK.  

“Also, he did better than anyone expected so fair play to Jack – he did really well but I don’t think he won.” 

While there is much discussion to take place before Taylor locks in any plans about future outings, no less which weight division it will be in, one thing he is sure of is he would like to have more bouts on home soil, as well as return to America, where he unified the division last year. 

“I’d like to fight in Scotland again, and then in America again and take a travelling support with me, which I never got to do last time which was a big kick in the teeth. 

“I’ll speak to everyone about it but then I’ll make the final decision about what happens.” 
 

Josh Taylor was speaking at a fan event at German Doner Kebab in Edinburgh