Eddie Hearn is interested in signing Josh Taylor and doing a quick rebuild job on him before throwing him in with the Sharks at 140. The soon-to-be 34-year-old former undisputed light welterweight champion and two-time Olympian Taylor (19-2, 13 KOs) has lost his last two fights and has been winless since 2022.
The rebuilding job that Hearn plans on doing with Taylor will likely be similar to how he rebuilt Anthony Joshua by feeding him second-tier opposition to make him look like 24k gold before throwing him in with a live shark at 140 and watching the feeding frenzy.
It would be a good idea for Hearn not to invest as much time and effort into the rebuild job as he did with Joshua because that chewed two years of his career. What a waste.
Hearn can use Taylor as an opponent for his Matchroom fighters, Subriel Matias, Regis Progais, Liam Paro, Richardson Hitchins, and Jack Catterall. Taylor already fought Catterall twice, so there’s less need for a third after he was beaten in their rematch last May.
It would be better for Hearn to start matching Catterall against better fighters than continuing with the rerun cycle with Taylor. The rivalry is already played out. If this is all Caterall is going to do in his career is fight Taylor over and over, it’s pathetic.
This would likely be a short contract that Hearn gives Taylor, similar to the one he gave to Shakur Stevenson on his salvage job for the struggling New Jersey native.
It would be insane for Hearn to sign Taylor to a six-fight contract and watch him lose his next fight against a lower-level guy. Taylor has arguably lost his last three fights since 2022, and one of those defeats was a one-sided 12-round decision loss to Teofimo Lopez.
It was embarrassing to watch how outclassed Taylor looked, losing to a fighter who was seen as on the downside of his career. Teofimo has looked terrible in three out of his last four fights. The only one in which he performed well was against Josh.
Hearn says the “numbers” must work for him to sing the Scottish fighter Taylor to his Matchroom Boxing company. He points out that Taylor is accustomed to making big money in the past for his fights.
With a record of 0-2 in his last two fights, Taylor may need to drop his asking price if he’s to be inked by Hearn on one of his salvage missions.
“We’ve spoken to him. I like Josh a lot. It’s got to work for everybody, and that’s us included. Obviously, he’s used to earning a lot of money, and there is a little bit of a rebuild job to do, in my opinion. I think we want to build some momentum, said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV, talking about wanting to sign former undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor to his Matchroom company.
If Taylor wants a fortune to sign with Matchroom, it won’t work. He may still view himself as being a world champion, and that could be a problem because those years are long gone. He gave up his belts, and then was beaten by the washed Teofimo, making him look better than he actually is at this stage of his sinking career.
“Obviously, those fights, the rebuild fights, aren’t necessarily going to be [Liam] Paro and [Jack] Catterall 3. There’s a little stage. It’s got to work for everybody on the numbers, but if it did, I’d love to bring Josh to Matchroom. If the numbers don’t work, then he might look elsewhere. He’s a good fighter, and I still think he’s got a lot to give,” said Hearn.
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