Undisputed junior welterweight champion Josh ‘The Tartan Tornado’ Taylor 18-0 (13) deserves a big fight against WBO welterweight champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 37-0 (28) according to retired former super middleweight world champion Carl Froch.
Scottish southpaw Taylor, 28, is coming off an impressive unanimous decision victory over Jose Carlos Ramirez 26-1 (17) to unify all four major world titles at 14-pounds in Las Vegas in May.
Next up he is scheduled to face WBO mandatory contender and fellow lefty Jack ‘El Gato’ Catterall 26-0 (13) at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland on December 18.
Taylor has long mentioned a move up in weight to the marquee 147-pound division but says he felt obligated to face Catterall first after the 28-year-old Brit stepped aside to allow the Ramirez fight to happen.
American southpaw Crawford, 33, is in negotiations to face his WBO mandatory and former two-time world champion Shawn ‘Showtime’ Porter 31-3-1 (17) later this year.
Froch, who variously held the WBC, IBF and WBA world titles at 168-pounds across two separate reigns, believes Crawford is the perfect target for Taylor to boost his profile and turn him into a bona fide star.
“Crawford is a special talent, a big puncher,” said Froch to BBC.
“Josh certainly deserves to be in there with someone like Crawford, but that’s a name that is right at the top of my pound-for-pound rankings.
“I don’t want to say he beats him, but he belongs in there with him.”
Taylor told Sky Sports in June that he believes he has the skills to hand Crawford his first professional loss.
“I believe in my own ability. I believe I’ve fought better opposition than Crawford has, although Crawford is very, very good, he’s elite level,” he said.
“But he hasn’t fought the best opponents in his division. He’s fought good fighters, good opposition, but I believe I fought at the better level. I fought better fighters on the way up.
“There’s no doubts in my mind that I can win that fight. Same with every fight. If I said the complete opposite, you’d be worried.
“Ask any fighter if they can beat Terence Crawford. Yeah, especially me. I feel I can win it out the park, albeit a very tough fight.
“I have to be at my very best to win that fight. Yes, I do think that, but I do think I can win the fight.”
Asked for his prediction on the fight, Froch said Taylor would be up against it.
“If I had to pick who would win that fight, I’d have to be honest and say Crawford,” added Froch.
“But there’s no reason Josh Taylor can’t beat him. In boxing if you’re not firing on all cylinders and don’t put in 100% performance, anything can happen.”
Froch knows Taylor well. He trained alongside him late in his own career.
“I knew then he was a special talent,” he said. “To go on and become undisputed king at his weight, what a fantastic career he’s had so far and he still has lots to do. I think he’ll dominate for quite a while.
“He still has work to do as there’s some good fighters coming through and others in the division above him where he might be headed, but for now he’s undisputed king and we need to appreciate him while he’s there because it doesn’t happen often.”
