By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

You would think that, with a nickname that hailed one of the greats that Eddie Taylor, 31-18-1, 18 KO’s, would have a biography and digital foot print the length of the longest Chicago side walk. It might surprise you if you were to hear that there was not a massive presence of memories, history and the types of revelations that would make your hairs stand up on end?

It was not a nickname to strike fear in many of his opponent though and even with someone with quite a checkered career, Sean O’Grady, who remarked that “He can call himself Young Joe Louis but he still fight, like Old Eddie Taylor.”

This is a guy who made a splash from his debut in 1975 right through to retirement in 1992. From Mississippi, he became a 50 fight veteran by the time of his retirement, having fought for world honours on no fewer than 3 occasions – in 1982, 1984 and 1990.

A cruiserweight who made that step up to world level before he stepped down. Taylor was someone who had the fortune and the misfortune, like so many floating in and around in the late 80’s, to be at his height when the sweet science was not as regulated, managed or monitored as it ought to be. He was a fighter known mainly to his US fans – we did not get to see him over here in the UK, Taylor was more of crude artist than specialist puncher. He relied heavily on that ability to brawl, but it made him a cruiserweight worthy of being given decent opportunities.