Josh Taylor Stops Ohara Davies in the 7th Round – Boxing News
By Joshua “City” Brewer
It may as well had been pitted as a battle between Scotland and England on the night of July 8, 2017. Ohara “Two Tanks” Davies, 15-1, 12 KO’s, went into enemy territory for a scrap against Josh “The Tartan Tornado” Taylor, 10-0, 9 KO’s. The fight took place in Glasgow, Scotland, and the raucous crowd was heavily out in support of Taylor. Through the first two rounds it’s was pretty much a back and forth from each fighter that essentially went both ways. Davies awkward, shoulder-roll style against the conventional south-paw style of Taylor would prove to be interesting.
A couple of flurries in the latter part of the third round almost saw Davies crumble but he somehow stayed up. Then, Taylor caught Davies with a stiff right-hand jab that staggered Davies. As Taylor moved in Davies wisely took a knee. This was at the very end of the round. As expected, Davies came out immediately in the fourth looking to show that he was unphased. Davies was swinging with bad intentions as Taylor looked to taunt early on. As the round progressed, Both fighters exchanged heavy punches close inside. The look was that if there were any game plan it was out of the window as they each looked to just issue out an old fashioned beating. It became apparent that Taylor’s body shots were seemingly in a league of their own as they seemed to crush the insides of Davies each time they landed.
Davies was once again on the offensive in the fifth round and he looked pretty good in his effort. He landed very solid shots on Taylor to both the head and body, but Taylor was essentially a man possess as he never seemed to flinch. Then with about a minute left, Taylor caught Davies with a right hook that stunned him once again and had him staggering. Davies tried to regain himself throwing shots and was successful in landing, but he couldn’t keep Taylor at bay as he finished the round with digging right hooks to the body. Taylor showed his confidence early in round six as he utilized his jab to pot shot Davies while dazzling with his footwork. At this point Taylor had established himself as the more dominant fighter on the inside and outside. Midway through the round Davies battled back before a late flurry to the head and body from Taylor that had Davies railing against the ropes. The two then stood and exchanged with Davies seemingly able to hurt Taylor with a shot until the bell sent them to their corners.
The start of the seventh was pretty reserved from both fighters until about a minute in when Taylor started to dig in with hooks to each side of Davies body. Davies showed some resolve and tried to battle back with shots of his own. With about a minute left Taylor caught Davies with a short and paralyzing right hook that dropped him instantly. Davies was able to answer the count but it looked as though all of the fight had been taken out of him. As Taylor moved into close, Davies turned his back whilst shaking his head and holding his right glove to his right eye as if to concede that Taylor was indeed the better fighter on this day. The referee stepped in and the punishment was over at 2:55 of the seventh round. Josh Taylor deservedly celebrated as he stopped one of the top prospects in the world in what was only his 10th fight. In doing so he picked up the World Boxing Council (WBC) silver super lightweight title and respect and admiration across the world.
The ceiling is without a doubt very high for Taylor. He showed that he has the ability to be star regardless of where he’s fighting. There was talk after the fight of him potentially getting the opportunity to take on Ricky Burns. If that fight happens Taylor is certainly a very live dog. Anything can happen in the greatest sport on earth. And for that I say fight on Josh Taylor, fight on.
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