Josh Taylor has named Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Naoya Inoue as his two favourite active boxers to watch at this moment in time.

The undisputed super-lightweight champion sits comfortably at number five on the Ring Magazine pound-for-pound list after a stellar display against Jose Ramirez in Las Vegas last month.

Taylor boxed well off the back foot at times, yet was able to showcase his trademark tenacity and power on the inside to score two knockdowns en route to a convincing points win.

Victory for the Scot confirmed his place as the best in the world at 140lbs and one of the elite in the world altogether.

The 30-year-old is a student of the sweet science himself and grew up idolising Manny Pacquiao whilst he was starting his own career as a teen in Prestonpans, East Lothian.


Yet with the Filipino taking his time between fights due to his age, there are two other fighters who have caught Taylor’s eye.

Mexican superstar Canelo is a four-weight world champion who is arguably the biggest star of this generation, while Inoue is a diminutive wrecking machine.

Compared to Mike Tyson for his formidable punching power and knockout ratio, Taylor is a huge fan of the Japanese bantamweight.

“I like watching Canelo,” he told talkSPORT.com. “I think he is brilliant.

“I think he is amazing; the way he moves and he is so calm and collected. I think he is brilliant and I love watching him.

“I like watching Inoue as well; he is a little monster as well!”

Even at the age of 30 and with just 18 professional fights to his name, there is not an awful lot Taylor has not achieved.

The WBA, WBO, WBC and IBF world champion initially started taekwondo as a youngster before falling in love with boxing, where he medalled at the Commonwealth Games.

Despite his crowning moment last month, Taylor still lists the gold medal won in 2014 in his home country as the proudest moment of his career.

“Right below it and certainly on par with winning my world title,” he said when asked where becoming undisputed world champion ranked.

“If it had been in normal times and I had been able to take my friends and my family over and my travelling support, it would have been up there by far – by miles.

“But I think just doing that for myself and my country at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 was a really proud moment for me.”

https://talksport.com/sport/boxing/9...ue-mike-tyson/