Ringside Report Looks Back at Former 3 Time World Title Challenger Bernard “BT Express” Taylor

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By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

He was a featherweight who was a sterling amateur, came over to the UK to take on one of our legends and although he failed to take away a world title from a ring, he certainly lit may rings up. Bernard “BT Express” Taylor, 45-4-2, 23 KO’s, was an exceptional amateur boxer whose exploits in the professional ranks never quite matched his achievements in the non paid element of his profession. Nevertheless, he got close three times and displayed some superior skills that saw him highly decorated as an amateur.

His amateur record was allegedly just short of 500 bouts, 480 of which he won. It’s not just impressive, it is remarkable. It is quite clear that Taylor was an extraordinary amateur, who could have had an Olympic Gold medal, had he gone but the history books shall show that he simply didn’t have the firepower to reach the top of the professional ranks.

That Olympic opportunity was lost because Taylor was another one of the 1980 crop who were denied the opportunity to get to the Olympics because of the boycott. The Congressional Medal he got may pale into insignificance in his trophy cabinet alongside four national Golden Gloves championships at two weights – bantamweight and featherweight, two national AAU titles at the same two weights and the light flyweight junior Olympic champion medal hanging there.

Turning pro in 1980, not long after the disappointment of the Olympics, he put together an impressive 18 win streak – 11 wins in his first year as a pro – before getting in the ring for his first world title shot against the mighty Eusebio Pedroza. Taylor had home advantage for this WBA title fight as he was in Charlotte, North Carolina to face his biggest test. Pedroza meanwhile was in his 16th defense of his title and remarkably people were expecting this could go either way – such was the esteem with which Taylor was held.
Taylor, perhaps the keenest of the two, took the fight to Pedroza and won, for most, the first 10 rounds. Unfortunately, he struggled for the next 5 and it ended up in a draw. The judges including referee Stanley Christodoulou simply were unable to choose the winner. Christodoulou saw it 147-143 for Pedroza. Judge Knud Jensen, 146-144 for Taylor, and the deciding Judge Oscar Oppen made it a draw with 146-146. Taylor left the ring still undefeated, but he was still not a world champion. Many thought that, had he been the champion and it being in his hometown he would have got the win.

Taylor followed up the Pedroza draw with some aggressive knockout wins, but even then, his power did not appear to be that impressive. In 1984 he won the vacant ESPN featherweight title by beating Myron Taylor in Atlantic City.

His winning streak went on until in his 35th fight, by which time he had become number 1 WBA contender again and found himself in Belfast, Northern Ireland to face someone in their own back yard, WBA featherweight champion, Barry “The Clones Cyclone” McGuigan, the conqueror of Pedroza. Taylor was again an equal in the contest. McGuigan did not take the fight lightly and having won the title against Pedroza, knew that Taylor was a very dangerous fighter – he needed to be at his best. Taylor proved to be a tremendous opponent and for many, he was out boxing McGuigan – he was ahead on all 3 cards) until, between rounds 7 and 8 he decided not to come out, losing by TKO. It had been 3 years since his encounter with Pedroza, was for many a strange end to this fight, and was the first time that he had been defeated in a professional ring.

Taylor took 5 months out and then started to rebuild. In 1986, he beat Joe Ruelaz in Vegas for the NABF featherweight title, defended it luckily in 1987 in Reno against Javier Marquez where a head clash and cut stopped the fight, in 1988 in Bristol he beat Gary Stallworth for the USA Tennessee super featherweight title, drew with Jeff Franklin in a majority draw – the third judge had him losing – in Vegas against Franklin to retain his NABF title and then in 1988 had a rematch with Marquez beating him this time by stoppage in Mexicali.

He entered the 1990s by beating Calvin Grove by an 11th round stoppage for the USBA super featherweight title and then in 1992 he was in Washington to defend that title against Eugene Speed, in his backyard. Winning a split decision after Speed was down in the second round it was a fantastic win against an undefeated fighter but time was clearly beginning to knock at his front door of expectation. The win put him back in contention for another world title shot and he was then out a ring for 16 months before a tune up win and then, eleven years after that draw with Pedroza, Taylor was back in a world title fight.

This time it was for the IBF junior lightweight title and this time up against John John Molina in Puerto Rico. For the 3rd time, his ability to stay the pace deserted him and he was stopped in the 8th round. Molina caught him with an uppercut that caused Taylor serious damage before the referee stepped in to stop the fight as Molina was loading up and hitting the target in a deadly manner. It was 1993 and the end was not far away. The end came in 1994, February in Biloxi when a defense of his USBA super featherweight title against Pete Taliaferro ended with a split decision loss.

From beginning to end he had been a professional boxer for just over 13 years. There had been gaps, times of that made that longer than it perhaps needed to be but it was an impressive series of fights and entertaining matches.

He retired straight after that last fight but left an incredible legacy of 3 world title attempts, a stunning amateur career and an example to many that despite some lengthy layoffs he was still a contender – I do hope Mike Tyson is NOT reading this!

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