Josh Taylor breaks silence on Ekow Essuman defeat as he avoids decision he'd regret
Josh Taylor has spoken out over his defeat in a WBO Global welterweight title fight with Ekow Essuman.
Josh Taylor has broken his silence after his bid to become a two-weight world champion came to a disappointing end with a defeat against Ekow Essuman on Saturday night.
The Prestonpans southpaw has been a WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO world champion at light welterweight level but made the bold call to step up to welterweight in the wake of defeats Jack Catterall and Teofimo Lopez over the last two years. Facing Essuman for the vacant WBO Global welterweight title was always going to be an interesting task for the 34-year-old and the Tartan Tornado came out second best as he came out on the wrong side of a unanimous points decision after 12 rounds.
After a positive and energetic start to the bout, Taylor’s pace slowed as Essuman took control as the rounds passed and it was the latter that eventually came out on top thanks to judges scoring of 116-113, 116-112 and 115-112 in his favour. A visibly disappointed Taylor left the ring in the aftermath of the decision and failed to conduct in-ring interviews before returning to the changing room. He has now taken to social media to explain his decision and revealed he ‘did not want to say something in the heat of the moment’ with his emotions running high in the aftermath of a third consecutive loss.
He posted on X: “I would just like to apologise to all the fans last night for leaving the ring before having an interview and before taking the time to thank you all for showing up and showing out, as you always have done over the past 10 years. I headed to the changing rooms because I did not want to say something in the heat of the moment or that I’d later regret on live tv.
“Your support means the world to me and you’ve created wonderful memories for me that will stay with me until the day I die. You’ve all helped to create some incredible moments in my life and despite the result, last night was another special night that was right up there, so thank each and every one of you. Thank you to Queensberry for bringing a big show back to Scotland and to Ekow once again on the victory.”
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