This programme contains very strong language
ANNOUNCER: From Prestonpans, Edinburgh, Scotland...
..Josh "The Tartan Tornado" Taylor!
When I was in primary school, I said,
"I want to be rich and famous like a superstar pop star
"or something, or a footballer"
and never, ever imagined that it would come true,
or I would be a world champion boxer, for even that matter.
COMMENTATOR: And Josh Taylor has won gold at the Commonwealth Games!
I was aware of Josh from right back, you know, the Lochend Boxing Club.
Everybody in the boxing fraternity would be talking about him
all the time. It's just been this kind of relentless rise.
COMMENTATOR: The Tartan Tornado is world champion
after only 15 professional fights.
People see Fury and AJ as the top fighters in the UK,
but what Josh Taylor has done already in his career
has probably surpassed anything they've done put together.
He's a special, special fighter.
COMMENTATOR: Big left hand drops Jose Ramirez!
There's only been five other fighters in boxing history
to have become undisputed world champion.
The undisputed champion of the world...
..Josh "The Tartan Tornado" Taylor!
You just see the buzz when Scotland are playing well,
when Andy Murray's doing well -
and Josh is absolutely amongst those names.
He's a Scotland great.
And I think what's exciting is he's nowhere near where he wants to be.
Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall will battle it out in Glasgow
for the undisputed super lightweight ten-stone treasure.
It's a completely different pressure going to the ring as the champion,
with nothing to gain from it.
The moment he steps in through those ropes, the belts go up in the air.
Every fight that he has now,
it's, "This is his biggest fight of his career."
And, obviously, it's on home soil this time, so I think, you know,
you're going to be feeling the pressure to put a good show on.
Jack Catterall is a very, very good fighter.
He's beaten every opponent that's been put in front of him.
But I've got bigger plans and bigger goals that I've set out to do.
I want to become a two-weight undisputed world champion,
something that no-one has ever done in the sport.
That would be me leaving an everlasting name
and legacy in the sport of boxing.
CHANTING: Chorley! Chorley! Chorley!
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, after 12 rounds here
inside OVO Hydro, we go to the judges' scorecards
for the official decision.
And still undisputed...
CROWD CHEERS
..super lightweight champion of the world,
The Tartan Tornado,
Josh Taylor!
COMMENTATOR: That is absolutely stunning!
Josh Taylor retains his titles on a split decision.
Bullshit! Fucking cheating...! Bullshit.
# There's only one Josh Taylor!
Come on, Josh!
If this wasn't in Scotland tonight, Jack would've won.
You know that, I know that.
COMMENTATOR: Take nothing away from Josh Taylor's effort and his spirit.
But, for us, Jack Catterall should be the undisputed champion.
Wasn't my best, like, eh?
That's how it is, eh? I'm all right. Sweet.
You all right? Uh-huh...
Don't feel a thing? Nope. Good.
Oh...
Pissed off.
I just don't get it.
Jack won the fight, for me.
Aye, you're all good.
Aw, fuck!
MOTOR SPUTTERS
Ah, fucking hell...
MOTOR STARTS
MOTOR CUTS OUT
Oh...
I've got to give up.
HE LAUGHS
That's what happens when you let your grass
grow and grow like a jungle.
MOTOR CUTS OUT
Ah, fuck's sake.
What's going on here?
MOTOR CUTS OUT
Oh...!
Don't you dare put this on the telly.
I'll sue the hell out of you.
You better no' put this on the BBC, I'm telling you.
"Cannae even cut his fucking grass."
Aw, man, look at all that, though, man.
See how perfect the other side is, Tom?
Beautiful.
FAUX AMERICAN ACCENT: "Beautiful!"
I live in Haddington, which is about eight miles
just from where I grew up, in Prestonpans,
and it's about 15 miles east of Edinburgh.
Neighbours will get some laugh watching me doing that.
It was a great place to grow up.
We had lots of freedom, we had the sea on our back door,
we had lots of countryside on our doorstep.
Quite a tough little place.
You know, you had to learn to defend yourself
and, you know, look after yourself.
There's not many people where I'm from, who are my friends,
that didn't grow up fighting.
Prestonpans is an old mining town.
It's escaped the gentrification that a lot of these towns have had.
Places like Haddington and North Berwick
have had the influx of commuters from Edinburgh.
Prestonpans has probably been one of the towns that's kept it real,
basically, in that part of the world.
This is a house that I grew up in - here.
Two-bedroom council house.
Lived here till I was, like, 25, 26 years old, so...
Paddy!
Ah, dear...! That's sweet...!
He used to leave notes about the house when he was a kid...
..saying he was going to be world champion.
And we found that.
He must have been about ten.
Oh, he was just so headstrong.
He was competitive at everything he done.
We could sit and eat a bowl of cornflakes, and I'll say,
"I'll race you," and he would just stuff them in his face, just to win.
I just knew way back then he was a bit special, he was...
He was gonnae be something.
He was funny, he was a funny wee... He's was a funny lad, eh?
He used to like to take his clothes off and run about naked... Aye.
..and do the Full Monty and things.
He was really good at the Full Monty.
The Full Monty would come on...
He would have to start... Start taking his clothes off..!
I still do want to be a part of the Full Monty.
"What do you want to be when you're bigger, Josh?"
"A stripper."
He's just always full of fun.
No, but he wasnae always. He was a pain in the backside sometimes.
People coming to the door, saying he'd thrown stones at their windows
and complaining about him fighting with their boys, and...
Aye, just your usual kid stuff.
That's Josh when he was a baby.
Long legs and long arms.
Look at the state of this.
I had a great upbringing.
My dad was a landscape gardener for Edinburgh Council.
My mum was a receptionist at Meadowbank Sports Centre.
They worked every hour under the sun.
They worked really, really hard for myself, for my little sister
to enjoy things and have good clothes, have good stuff.
Sometimes we didn't have enough to put petrol in the car
to get him to training, but we got there somehow.
Jamie worked really hard, as well.
He used to work two jobs. I had two jobs.
It was quite hard.
It was hard going, trying to keep them getting what they want
and making sure they were fine for everything.
It did put a lot of strain on mine and Jamie's marriage at some times.
At first, it was quite a shock to Finch and Josh that we'd split up,
because we've been together since we were at high school,
like, 12, 13-year-old, so that's, like, longer than a lifetime,
And I think it was a shock to quite a lot of people that we split up.
But, do you know what? We're getting on fine now.
There's Josh... That's the craziest person I've ever met.
Who's that?
Diane when she was a lass.
I'm no' really crazy. I'm quite a nice person.
Dinnae believe him, Tom.
There was always a bit of tooth and nail with the two of them,
arguing like cat and dog.
I think a lot of it was
because they were spending
all their time working to provide for myself and Finch.
I think it took its toll on them sometimes.
You know, they'd let things build up, build up, and build up,
and then they would explode.
It was crazy at times, and mad at times, but whose family isn't?
If it wasn't for my mum and dad, I wouldn't be where I am today.
You know, fact.
They worked their socks off to give us everything that they had.
Paddy, this way.
As Josh was brought up, he just went out playing
and running about all the time.
That's all we had to do with him when we were youngsters
but nowadays, you dinnae see any kids about the place.
They're all sitting in their houses playing their PlayStations.
That's what I see as different about town here, Prestonpans.
I think, you know, a lot of working class, cos they've been left behind,
and it's not just in Prestonpans.
I mean, I see it where, you know, where I grew up in Muirhouse,
There's not a lot for them,
and recreational space is sold off to developers.
You know, you see what happens is that obesity rates rise.
What Josh has done, and what leading sports people have done,
they kind of reverse that trend.
They encourage kids to get into sport, they encourage kids to join
the local boxing club, to join the local five-a-side league.
But the facilities have to be there.
Otherwise, it's just drugs and street corners, basically.
This is, like, the bit where we sort of used to hang around
when we were, like, little kids.
See, the running track's no' in very good nick any more,
cos the gate's shut, nobody's using it.
Kids are having to break the things in the fence just to get in
and get a game of football.
It's quite crap to see.
But there's some lads climbed in over the fence here,
so we'll go and see what they say.
It's Josh Taylor!
Sting. Aw, what a game that was.
On the seventh goal, you have to either header it or backheel it in.
Once you get seven in, you've got to turn around,
put your arse in the air,
and the lads put the ball on the penalty spot,
and everybody gets a free dig at your backside.
If you refuse to let everybody have a shot at you,
you get a thing called the magic circle.
You've just got to protect yourself, and everybody gets to set about you.
It's a pretty brutal game, but it is exciting, it's pretty good.
I used to love playing that when I was a kid, like.
Is it still the same? Do you still play the same way?
Seven, and then 14, the kegs down, and 21, bare arse.
Aye...! Then if nobody... You get the magic circle.
Aye, magic circle. Get battered...
That's actually quite nice to see,that. That's quite funny.
Brings back a lot of memories.
All right, boys? Away to play football?
There's a wee hole in the fence.
All that hassle to try and get a wee game of football.
For me, that's shocking. It should be open.
It used to be free and open.
Can me and my friends get a group photo?
Of course, lads.
In my fights, when they get introduced as,
"And from Edinburgh, Josh Taylor..."
Enjoy your game of football. See you later, wee man.
See yous later, boys.
..I said to a couple of announcers early on, I says,
"I'm no' from Edinburgh.
"I'd like you to say my hometown, Prestonpans."
And you had Michael Buffer shouting it -
"From Prestonpans, Josh Taylor!"
It's brilliant.
I'm really proud of that fact, that I've put Prestonpans on the map,
and people around here are proud of that fact, as well.
It gives a lot of the kids around here...
To reach the heights of where you want to go, it's not...
you don't have to be from a certain place.
I'm real, I'm living it. I'm right there.
Like, if I can do it, the kids can do what they want, as well.
Is my blue one there? Drying.
Are they? Right, that's fine.
And there's other stuff in the washing machine.
Are they yours? Take them if you want...!
They might be quite nice on me. Wee hot pants.
Oosh!
On Monday, I'm going down to Essex
and back to the gym with my coach, Ben, and all the lads,
and start training camp.
I will be a wee bit lost, I think, when he goes back.
My house will be nice and tidy.
He just leaves everything lying on his backside.
But things get back to business now.
Every fight that he has now,
it's, "This is his biggest fight in his career.
"And now this is..."
So, every fight is, like, at the top.
Ready to go.
I might see him, maybe, three or four times, maybe.
I just feel like he needs just to have that space,
and just get on with training and...
..just be in the zone.
Sorted.
I've been working with Josh Taylor for about 18 months,
and his career, up to date, has been extraordinary.
Josh has achieved numerous titles throughout his career.
Obviously, an Olympian.
Gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
What's happening, mate? Yeah, good, man.
How are you doing? This is...
I've been away for about six months.
JOSH LAUGHS
When he turned professional, he took to it like a duck to water.
Josh won his first world title in just his 15th fight.
He went on to become undisputed champion in just his 18th fight.
There's four different world titles,
and it's very rare for those champions to face each other.
When they do, and somebody has all of the belts - like Josh -
and has beaten every single other champion in his weight category,
that means you become the undisputed champion of the world.
Pizza belly, Tom.
Wee dad bod.
Every fight is different.
When they've achieved a goal they've had for such a long time,
it's a huge relief, and everybody deals with that differently.
I'm just over 12st, about 12.02st.
12.03st, maybe.
I need to get down to 10st.
I've been known to work with fighters that really pack on
the weight, so... Look, it's not the end of the world.
But boxing is the truth.
There's no hiding.
When you get in there, the truth will come out.
If you've not put the work in,
if you've cut corners,
the truth will come out.
As brutal as it is, it's beautifully brutal.
I've known Josh for a long time.
I've basically followed Josh's footsteps from the amateur days.
I don't think we would push ourselves as much as what we do
if we didn't have each other...
Ah, fucking hell, man.
..because I just feel like you physically can't push yourself
that much unless you've got someone there who's maybe just above you.
That's why you get that extra 10-20% out of yourself in the training.
JOSH EXCLAIMS
Fuck... Eh?
Fuck.
It's a lonely life at times, you know,
and I'm very lucky that I've got my little brother, Lee McGregor,
going through the same thing.
So, we kind of bounce off each other
and get each other through it.
Mate, I'll see you in a wee while. See you in a bit. See you in a bit.
I'm an Edinburgh lad. I'm a Hearts fan, Jambo,
and Josh is a Hibs fan. So, it's two Edinburgh teams.
There's needle and there's banter.
It depends how serious people take it.
Me and Josh are pretty laid back with it, but when the two teams meet
and they play each other,
we're both, obviously, winding each other up.
We need to go on the pitch at half-time,
during a Hibs-Hearts game,
and we need to have a penalty shoot-out. How good would that be?
Aye, that would be good.
When I'm down in Essex, I live in a house with five other lads.
We all stay together and live, breathe and eat boxing together.
Have you had a haircut today, Josh?
Yesterday.
What are you copying my beard for?
Oh. Fucking itching like mad.
Oh. Itching like mad.
I'll keep saying until you answer.
It's itching like mad. OK, very good!
It's Leo's house.
What a character he is. Amazing. He's some lad.
Playing his favourite game - round the board. Right, I'm on ten.
Who's touching...? Sorry, I never meant it.
Don't touch the light switch.
Wee Scotsman under a bit of pressure
and you're trying to fuck my game up.
LAUGHTER Go on, then. What are you on?
Bull's-eye. 25. I'm on 25 now.
What? Have you hit the green one?
I'm on the green now.
There you are. Just above it. Good marker.
Ho, ho, ho, ho! Oh, what a shot.
That was amazing. That was amazing.
I've shared rooms with Josh many times
and I just think he's got so much energy.
I would love to get some of the energy from him.
I've got clips on my phone from us in hotel rooms and it's like 12am
and we're sharing the room, and Josh is up in front of me.
He's shadow boxing and I'm trying to sleep.
Boom, boom, boom! Ah, shite!
Josh is...
He's an intense character.
Boom, boom, boom! Ah, fuck!
Have a breather. On the next one.
Intensity is the price of excellence.
So, because he has that mentality and he's that...that intensity,
whatever he focuses on, he'll do well on.
Fucking hell. What? I'm not half breathing.
I've got such high standards
and expectations of myself
that, if I don't meet them or hit them straight away,
I get a little bit frustrated with myself.
So is that it? Yeah.
That will do you today.
Will I do one more?
No, that'll do. Six.
People need to hold me back
because then I would go and hit the bags for as long as I could,
knacker myself out, then I'd be knackered tomorrow.
I wouldn't be able to train tomorrow as well or as efficiently
because I'll been knackered from the day before.
Time.
No, it's not that. It's just...
You say that at every camp!
It's just time, innit?
It takes time to get back to what you used to.
He's fucking nuts, he is.
He thinks a couple of hard sessions is going to fix it.
It just takes time.
Right now, the main focus is basically preparing his body
for the tough task ahead,
to prevent any injuries,
so we make it to the fight safe and sound, God willing.
COUGHING
Yeah.
HE COUGHS
The cough's still no' properly cleared up yet.
HE COUGHS
And again. Oh.
I caught Covid as well last month,
so I think it's a bit of that as well.
Then I caught a chest infection,
then I've picked up my knee injury
and I'm not able to really run or lift weights properly
or, even in boxing at certain shots I'm throwing, it's really hurting
my leg and giving me a shooting pains in my legs.
My body's a little bit less conditioned
than what is usually is.
You know, that's probably half the reason
why I've picked up a couple of injuries.
Nah?
Josh having his injuries and illness at the moment is an issue.
This is the ultimate prize in boxing
and Jack will be making sure that he comes at 100%,
so we need to make sure Josh is 100%.
Unfortunately, we're going to have to push the fight back.
RADIO: While West Ham brushed aside Genk by three goals to nothing.
Boxing and Josh Taylor's December 18th World Title defence
against Jack Catterall has had to be postponed
after Taylor suffered a knee injury.
The fight in Glasgow will now go ahead on the new date
of February 26th.
I'm gutted at the fact that I can't fight the week before Christmas,
having to cancel Christmas and keep training and...
..keep dedicated, so...
It's hard. Everybody says, "Oh, you're so lucky you're doing this,
"you're doing that." But you're away from family.
You're away from your home comforts,
you're away from your friends, my fiancee, and...
..putting your body through a whole lot of torture and pain,
and you're kind of miserable at times.
You know, it's not all big lights and glamorous stuff.
You know, it's a very, very hard way to earn a living.
This is traditional Friday night if Josh comes home.
I've had two deaths in the family since...
..and Josh has been, like, in camp for them as well,
so I know that he felt really bad because he couldn't be with me.
Times like that, that's when it's tough.
My dad was such a friendly guy, the best dad to me and my brother.
Even though you're grieving and, you know, you're feeling
all these emotions, unfortunately, you just need to keep going on.
I was on the phone to Danielle and she was crying
and, you know, I was trying to play brave.
And I come off the phone and I'd have a cry myself and, like,
break down in tears and then I'd have to go to the gym, you know?
And I had to block it out,
and I felt so bad that...
..that I couldn't be there for them emotionally, you know?
So I still feel bad about now and...
..I miss James so much as well.
So, yeah, it was hard. Yeah.
Being with someone that's in sports,
there's always something going on in our lives,
so there's always something to focus on.
And just now, obviously, it's Josh's fight.
And then obviously the wedding,
the wedding preparations are keeping me busy.
What's happening? All right? Hi.
We've been together 11 years now,
so we've been together a long time.
We never really had a normal relationship, so to speak,
because I was always away and training,
and so we never really got to spend an awful lot of time together.
So, when I did come back, we would go and do stuff,
stuff that was a luxury for us,
even just going for something to eat together, going to the pictures,
or even just go on a drive,
spend a bit of time together.
If I was maybe not enjoying boxing at times, struggling with stuff,
she was like, "Keep at it. This is your dream.
"It's your goal. Keep at it. You can do it."
And she's been at my back the whole way.
We actually met through my cousin.
Josh comes up drunk and he sits down beside me,
and I'm like, "Hiya."
And he went,
"I hear that you're into me and that you think I'm tidy."
And I just turned round and I'm like, "Who the fuck are you?"
"I didn't know who he was!"
And both of us turned round and looked at my cousin,
and he was, like, killing himself laughing.
And then we just got talking after that because obviously Josh
knew then that it was kind of like a set-up.
So with that night we just sat and chatted for ages,
and had a wee dance together.
He made me feel at ease with him.
He was always giving me compliments.
And, still to this day, I'm not a very confident person within myself
and I always kind of bring myself down and he's like, "No, no, no.
"You know, you're this, you're that, you're beautiful,"
and, you know, all that stuff.
And I think really, he's helped me grow as a person as well.
How many's coming in the bus? How many's coming in this?
I'll jump in the bus. I'll go in the bus.
This is my cousin David, and cousin Stuart, and my cousin Steven.
All right?
La familia.
LAUGHTER
Used to wind me up something rotten all the time when I was a,
when I was a kid, like, but...
Cannae do it now, can you?! No.
We're on the way through to Glasgow,
getting sized up for the kilts
and get all measured up to get all the stuff sorted for the wedding.
You know, just when we're getting married, it's nice to keep
the family tradition and the tartan and that alive.
Also, on the day, I'll be true Scotsman as well,
so better put some Vaseline on for the old chafing.
WOLF WHISTLES
What do you think, boys?
How you doing? Looking smart. That is nice.
Oh, perfect, man. It's quality, innit?
During the kilt fitting,
I met a young lad that wanted me to sign a set of gloves for him.
So, what are you studying at college?
His mother sources the tartan and the stuff for the shop.
He told me he'd been struggling from autism
and boxing really, really helped him.
It's good that you...got through it yourself,
improved, socially and everything, it's amazing.
That's really cheered me up, that.
He was getting bullied at school and things like that,
and he went to the boxing gym and says within a couple of weeks,
he kind of started making friends
and started coming out of his shell a wee bit
and was able to talk to people. He's at college now,
he's doing computing and stuff.
Maybe see you at a club show or fighting one day, maybe.
Let me know when you're fighting and I'll come along and watch you.
He wouldn't stop smiling at all.
Good on him.
Amazing, man. Brilliant. I'll go home and greet about that.
Yeah, I was just thinking... It's quite inspirational. It's nice.
It's brilliant, especially...
You hear things like that, what boxing can do for people,
not just fighting... Brings you out your shell, aye. Aye. It's amazing,
like, what it can do. Brilliant.
Believe it or not, as a kid,
I was quite shy in terms of what I wanted to get and go after things,
and I never really believed in myself.
Boxing helped me in that way and helped me grow
self-confidence and self-belief, and gave me my self-worth.
Everyone else sort of seen the talent that I had except for me.
He came in the gym one night with his father,
looking for some sparring.
You see if they've got a bit pop in their punches
and that's really the first thing, you think, "Oh, wow,
"this guy's genetically strong."
And then you look for a bit of speed.
Through time, you look to see if they're going to stick it
because a lot of kids that come in,
they'll maybe be here two or three weeks
and then you dinnae see them again,
but Josh was different.
He... He just kept turning up and,
you know, and never missed a session.
I think he would rather die than lose at anything.
Anything... Even walking along the street...
..I want to beat people at walking.
So competitive.
I've never met anyone that's had a bad word to say about Terry.
You know, I love him.
You know, he's been there for me since I was 17.
You know, I could go to him and talk to him about any problems
that I had in my life and he would give me sound advice all the time.
He goes out of his way to help people in the community.
People go from all over the place to Lochend now
because Terry is just...is a good guy and he'll help you.
There's not much in Lochend.
There's like a football boys' club up the road and there's us,
but we care for everyone and it's a right community gym.
There's a lot of mental health going around just now
through COVID and stuff, people being locked down and that.
I just don't understand why they lock gyms
and open like McDonald's and KFC and stuff.
The mental health and the suicides went through the roof.
You had them running out on the beach,
in the freezing cold, and all that.
Aye, it was bad, bad times,
what the government done with Covid, shutting people's lives down.
Josh has done amazing things for Scottish boxing.
They see him coming out of this wee hut
in Lochend and they think, "We can do it."
He's made them believe. Scotland used to be kind of the whipping dog
of the boxing world.
If you got drawn a Scottish guy back in the day, it was like a bye.
Now, the world is like, "That Josh Taylor is Scottish.
"They must be good boxers."
Josh has inspired these kids to push on and go for the medals
in the big tournaments.
You'd be here all night.
If it was up to you, you'd never get away from here.
The journey has just been like a dream, eh?
I mean, it's everybody's dream to be part of a journey
that involves somebody winning everything right up to the pinnacle
of a world title and then becoming undisputed.
To be part of that is just,
it's a special, special moment.
Last week, Ben said that he was going to Vegas for a number of weeks
and I just said, "Yeah, sign me up. I'm coming."
We are all going over there for like three or four weeks,
myself and Lee McGregor getting a good bit of training camp done
and get where we want to be.
All the massive fights have been in Vegas and my best fight,
my biggest achievement, was in Vegas as well.
Welcome inside the brand-new Virgin Hotel, here in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It was a good, hostile atmosphere, in the lion's den,
because obviously it was restricted crowd.
It was only, I think, 1,000 people in
and the majority were for Ramirez.
Good left hand. Drops Jose Ramirez.
I genuinely started to get worried at one point
because...because it was four in the morning and I was steaming.
But also it seemed so one-sided
that you felt something was going to go wrong,
you're going to get caught with a lucky punch or something
and go down, but he just never looked in trouble.
And for a fight of that magnitude,
it just shows you how far Josh has come.
Great memories, you know,
memories that will last me for the rest of my life.
ANNOUNCER: Josh Taylor!
With it being my best achievement in my career,
it was a little bit tainted because COVID
and the restrictions with travelling and getting into America,
the people that mean the most to me
couldn't come with me and share that moment.
I'm still super happy with what I did,
but I believe we can go back and I'll keep winning,
and we can go back and do it again.
It would be nice to experience what most people come over here
to experience, but I'm afraid we've got different dreams.
I've come here with less tan than I came - even more pale -
so I've not seen any sun at all.
We've been just seeing the gym and the house,
and the gym and the house.
Only a couple of times we've had the opportunity to get out
and actually explore a little bit of the strip and stuff,
so it's not all glamorous.
It's more work than it is glamour.
I'd love to have a night here,
no training, just come here and experience it properly.
It'd be class.
Vegas must be a hard place to do a training camp
because you're seeing everything that you could be doing
if you were on a holiday
and the lads need to live like monks when they're in camp.
I love it here. My wife's from here -
it's why we got the place.
I didn't realise how much I kind of needed this place,
you know...the anonymity,
and I think Josh has enjoyed that as well.
I've known Martin now for about six years.
He's Scotland's sweetheart, you know?
Everyone loves him in Scotland and he's a real cool guy.
He's been to a lot of my fights and he supports me.
I don't know about you, but I'm freezing my tits off here.
This is like being back in Scotland, man.
They've went soft. Losing weight. Had that nice weather.
There you go, son. No, I'm all right!
He's a fucking madman.
He's a great lad,
loyal to his family, loyal to his pals, but he is a headcase.
Erm... But I think you've got to have that to be a top level...
You've got to have something...
That killer instinct. You've got to have a bit of danger about you,
you've got to have something, that adrenaline,
because you always... Aye, very nice words, Martin. Thanks very much.
Speaking very nicely to me!
Look, the boy's got a great heart
but he is a bit of a madman, you know, and I think he's a character,
and I think, in sport, people do respond to that.
They respond to people that speak their mind.
Sometimes I'll say things
and I don't realise what I'm saying can be huge.
I forget about the effect it can have on other people
because I don't see myself as a celebrity,
and I don't see myself as anything special.
I think he needs to realise now, where he's at in his career,
anything he says is going to be under a microscope.
Anything, any opinion he's got, anything he's ever done,
people are going to look at that and, if they can use it,
it will be used to batter you over the head
because there's always people that want to see you fail.
I sort of wear my heart on my sleeve.
I'm an honest person and maybe say some stupid things every now
and again, but it's never with bad intentions.
I don't believe in putting on a persona.
If you put on a persona, you've got to maintain an image.
I'm just myself. I'm just one of the best in the world at what he does
and lives for it, and dedicates himself to his craft.
I'm just a...down to Earth, working class lad at the end of the day.
We're off on our way to church,
Sunday ritual, wherever we go,
for training camps.
So...it'll be eventful.
It's hard to explain.
I don't categorise myself in being a Christian or being a Muslim.
I just feel like I have my own relationship with God.
I always go to...to the church, while I'm away on training camp
especially, and become good friends with a pastor.
So the boys come along with me and they seem to enjoy it as well.
People watching from Australia,
they're watching from all around the world, maybe even from Scotland,
or from England, my friend, the great trainer, Ben Davidson.
Josh Taylor. I saw Lee again, a tremendous boxer.
But I'm going to ask everybody to stretch their hands
to them right now.
And I want you just to begin to pray for these four men
who came to church. I want you to pray that,
as they fly back to England and to Scotland,
that they're going to feel the love of a church.
And I want to just tell you something.
You're just not normal guys. You have a huge, huge destiny.
And they're warriors.
I want to be more like them when I grow up.
I want to be more like them in my future.
I want to be a warrior for God.
Can everybody pray as we sing this song?
He just said he sees things in me,
he sees the word "inspiration" and that over me,
and to help people and drive people on and helping people in the future
and that. I swear, as soon as the prayer was almost finished,
I felt like a warm sensation going through my body,
like the presence of... It's mad,
but I definitely 100% felt something.
It can't hurt to have God and a bit of faith in your corner,
as well, you know?
Feet.
That back leg.
Time. Good stuff, boys.
Ah, fucking hell, man.
I don't think I can ever remember the sparring
being this bad for this long.
I feel like I'm just like not at the races.
I can see it coming, I can see what to do,
but my body can't pull the trigger.
I feel like my mind is a bit fucking...hmm, fuck.
Do you know what I mean?
It's doing my fucking head in.
Doing my head in, mate.
Fuck off.
Ah, fuck off!
Obviously, when you do think about it, you do get
a little bit nervous because what's at stake here in terms of,
I've got everything to lose,
Jack's got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
So that little fear factor of
getting beat...is keeping me on my toes.
I'm not scared or anything like that,
but I just don't want to lose. I want to win so much.
Back at my home arena, the Hydro, where I've had most of my success,
both as an amateur and a professional,
so I've had plenty of great nights at Hydro.
Get a wee feeling of nerves when you look at it.
HE GRUNTS
It's been a long time coming, this fight.
Everyone's been frustrated for the last two years,
not being able to get out, see family,
do this, do that, go on holidays, socialise.
I'm delighted that it's back to full capacity.
It's a good feeling for me to be back boxing in front of crowds.
CHEERING
It feels like I've been away forever and, yeah, I can't wait.
Josh...
THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER
Josh.
Top man, brother. All the best. Legend, bro!
Aw, wait!
Josh is the one with everything to lose,
so that can put you in a very dangerous position.
And also, the homecoming, you know he's going to want to put on a show.
When you're at home, all the pressure's on you.
Everybody's expecting Josh Taylor to win
and everybody's expecting a great performance.
And if he doesn't deliver that,
I know Josh himself will think it's a let down.
It'll be a dangerous fight.
Jack, it's like getting blood out of a stone with him.
He doesn't say much, but I'm just going to tell him tomorrow that,
you know, it's game on now.
It's game on now and he better be ready for a fight.
From Lancashire, England,
Jack "El Gato" Catterall.
Jack Catterall, what he does in the gym,
no-one's seen it yet on a fight night.
He's unbelievable to watch in the gym.
He's a special, special fighter.
You've got the rivalry between the two fighters,
between the two countries, Scotland and England,
which has always been a massive rivalry,
and it's going to be really passionate in there.
And I think there's always a chance that Josh could maybe just get
caught up in that a little bit too much and see red.
This is it now, boy. It's.. This is it, now. Everything. It's happening.
You're going to get a fucking pasting. Yeah? We'll see.
Fucking pasting, mate. All right.
Fighters, for the most, are always a wee bit...
..most of them have a screw loose and Josh certainly has that.
And, obviously, the nickname Hank from My, Myself and Irene.
First of all, he looks like him.
He used to have these stupid haircuts
that were a bit like Hank's.
We can shake hands after, but right now it's...
We're going to punch each other's heads in and that's it.
Final word... Couldn't punch a phone number in, ya cunt.
He has this almost split personality
where, one minute, he's nice and the next minute he's not,
and it's normally he's not nice when it gets around fighting.
I was a bit raging with myself I dropped that C-bomb, like?
Was you? Aye. I was like, "Ah, fuck."
Either your mum or Danielle, it's like their heart broke,
and they went, "Urgh!"
LAUGHTER
It would have been... It would have been my da'.
Would it? It would have been my da' because my da' always goes,
"Stop fucking swearing in interviews, man."
I don't get emotionally attached.
I know it looks like it on fight week sometimes,
with my actions, but that's just me ready to go.
You ready?
I'm getting to that frame of mind now
where I don't want to see him, I don't want to talk to him,
I want to punch him in the face
for the last 17, 18 weeks he's put me through.
Ah!
He's trying to prevent me from feeding my family,
putting food on the table later on in life.
This is what I'm doing this for, is to, after boxing,
have a good life and provide for a family
and he's standing in the way of it,
you know, and he's coming here to try and knock me out
and hurt me, so I don't want to be friends with him.
IMITATES BORAT: Not!
Having said that, as soon as a final bell goes,
maybe go for a pint together, you know,
and then we can be maybe amicable.
But, right now, don't want anything to do with him.
The best thing I've ever heard anybody say about boxing,
I don't know who it was, but it rings true for me
is that boxing is the sport to which all other sports aspire.
That's beautiful.
LAUGHTER
Every kind of cliche in sport, every kind of saying and phrase in sport,
it all comes from boxing.
It's sport kind of concentrated,
at its most intense and its most focused.
I worked in Meadowbank Sports Centre.
I remember, on his first bout up at Meadowbank,
he was on the small hall at the time.
I was like, "Oh, my God."
I was so nervous.
You all right? You all right?
And I remember one of my managers saying,
"He's going to fill the big hall in a few years' time,"
but I never, ever thought
that that would be what his career would be.
Oh, my God. What? I ate that fart.
I don't know what I thought he would be,
work in Asda maybe, I don't know!
Maybe that would have been better -
it would have been easier.
Oh, let's do it!
INDISTINCT
SHOUTING
CHEERING
Obviously you've got that feeling in your stomach, like, that knot.
What's going to happen? What's going to be the outcome?
Is he going to be all right in there?
What about if something...?
What if he was to get injured?
As long as Josh goes into that ring,
but comes out the same Josh as he went in the ring -
that's what I kind of panic about as well.
SHOUTING
Josh Taylor! Josh Taylor! Go on!
The whole country is absolutely buzzing.
You can feel it in the hotels - everywhere you go, it's just...
The atmosphere is amazing and Josh deserves this.
He deserves this homecoming. He deserves this crowd.
It's going to be electric.
SINGING FLOWER OF SCOTLAND
# And sent him homeward tae think again... #
Ah, ya bastard.
HE EXHALES HEAVILY
Josh, when you're ready, sir. Yeah.
Let's go, boys!
Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come!
The Undisputed Super Lightweight Championship of the World.
Glasgow, let me hear you!
CHEERING
I think the Scottish are just intense people
and they're known to have that fighting spirit,
and that fighting heart.
It's about pride - it's about what that stands for.
It's about reputation, knowing that, when he goes to battle,
all these people are supporting him
and he feels he's got a responsibility to...
to do them proud.
Scotland's Braveheart tackles England's mandatory challenger.
CHANTING
It's Rocky, man, you know what I mean? You're in there
fighting for a country when you've got that backing.
You've got everybody going to the Hydro, you know?
You're sort of carrying the hopes of a nation.
I mean, that's pressure I couldn't imagine.
What about this atmosphere?
It's the last sort of gladiator sport.
You've got guys and women in there
battering the life out of each other.
And you've got all these people,
you're kind of living their dreams for them, and you cannot switch off.
Jack Catterall is boxing magnificently.
The crowd right here, at the Hydro...
Oh, good shot from Catterall.
Getting nailed here.
He's losing the boxing match.
And he floors Taylor, here, in the 8th round!
What about that?!
Well, this is extraordinary!
My father was a miner
and his grandfathers was miners,
and their fathers were miners
and they were brought up to be hard in they days.
Josh is like a kind of throwback.
He was brought up the same way.
Years ago, the old miners, you either went to the pub
or you went to the gym. And his grandfather boxed,
my father boxed,
all the miners boxed, because that's all they had to do
when they came home from their work.
So they were all hardy, hardy men
and Josh is just the same.
You didn't need to teach him it - it was just natural.
He's really biting down on that gumshield, Josh Taylor.
THEY CHANT FLOWER OF SCOTLAND
Crowd roaring on.
Referee, come on!
I think there's going to be a point off for Jack Catterall,
so that's interesting.
Some of these rounds tough to score.
Good shot from Taylor.
BELL DINGS
Good work from Catterall, as Taylor came in.
How much holding?!
BELL DINGS
A point off for Josh Taylor.
Josh Taylor's reign
as the Undisputed Super Lightweight Champion
in real Jeopardy.
ANNOUNCER: 12th and final round.
BELL DINGS
Well, Taylor really going after him now.
Inside the last minute here.
BELL DINGS
Ladies and gentlemen,
after 12 rounds tonight,
we go to get the judges' scorecards for the official decision.
Howard Foster scores the bout 113-112 Catterall.
CROWD BOOS
Ian John-Lewis scores the bout 114-111 Taylor.
CROWD CHEERS
Victor Loughlin scores the bout
113-112 for your winner by split decision...
..and STILL...
CROWD CHEERS
..Josh Taylor!
Yass! Come on!
Yo! We don't give a fuck!
That is bullshit.
Everybody knows who the winner was - Jack Catterall.
Jack Catterall boxed his fucking head off.
Three rounds. He put him on his backside as well. And Josh won.
Oh, my God.
I was really, really...
See when he said a split decision...
Oh-ho-ho!
Yeah.
When you're in survival mode for the last four or five rounds,
judges don't like it when you're the challenger.
He put a lot of pressure on himself, though, Josh. A lot of pressure.
Very hard.
HE SIGHS
Pissed off.
I know that I'm 100 times better than that.
I just felt like a shadow of myself in the fight, you know,
in terms of reactions and being up for it and being motivated to win.
I don't know what it was, but I just felt very frustrated
with the performance that I put on.
After we got back to the post-fight press conference,
people were sort of looking sort of surprised
that I thought I'd won,
but it wasn't until the day after the fight
and I turned my phone back on and it was just full of abuse,
hateful messages, and then Danielle started getting it
and my little sister started getting it.
I was getting comments underneath a picture
that I'd put up the night before of me in my outfit
and one guy had said that I belonged in the ground,
which wasn't that bad.
But then, in my private messages, that was,
"You're going to get your throat slit.
"If I ever see you, you're going to get stabbed,
"you know, stuff like that."
I can remember lying in bed crying sometimes, you know,
and thinking, "I can't believe people
"are actually saying this to me."
How can you say that to someone's family?
You know, it's meant to be a sport at the end of the day.
It's not anything to do with my family.
It's nothing to do with me.
I went there and did my job, and that should be the end of it.
It's three weeks now,
I've had the chance to watch it back like four times.
You know, it's a close fight. It's a very close fight.
It could have went either way.
I felt that, if it had went to Jack by one or two points, that's fine,
you know? I wouldn't have argued. DOG BARKS
But I felt that I did enough, just, to win the fight,
and a lot of it's done to perception,
from that angle or whatever, you know,
and so the judges saw what they saw
and they're very well-respected judges.
And it's not my...my fault that they gave me the win.
Come on, let's go.
He had one-off night and everyone's jumped on the bandwagon
about how he's a terrible boxer,
and how he's got no class,
how he's terrible for the sport
and stuff like that.
You don't know him.
He's dedicated he's life, he's dedicated everything to this sport,
and that's what people are forgetting.
Danielle's my rock, you know?
She's there for me no matter what, you know?
The good, the bad and the ugly.
We've had a few of these moments
and she's my everything, she's my world.
Josh now needs to move up to a different weight class.
You know, he's done everything at 140.
He's wanting to be a world champion at welterweight, you know?
He's wanting to chase more dreams.
I can now go ahead and chase the big goals and the big fights.
I've got two or three years left.
I want to become a two-weight world champion,
which the fire's fully burning for me to do.
But there's also a fire burning there now to have the rematch
with Jack, and fight him again and prove the doubters wrong.
Jack Catterall boxed his fucking head off.
I've got a lot of doubters,
but I've proved people wrong my whole career...
A big left hand drops Jose Ramirez!
..and I plan on keeping to do it.
I think he would rather die than lose at anything.
He's going to fill the big hall in a few years' time.
Boxing is the truth.
Josh is like a kind of throwback.
There's definitely something deep in me that comes from both sides
of my family, of tough working class fighting men
and that's what I want to be remembered as,
just a fighter that wasn't afraid to take on all challenges
and allcomers and give it his all.