Josh Taylor: Daily Routine

He trains twice a day, six days a week, eats the same meals on repeat, and doesn’t touch alcohol — all for the chance to stay at the top.

It’s the classic coming-of-age boxing story. A kid gets into fights at school, realises he is pretty good at it, looks for a boxing gym to hone his skills, gets really good at it, starts competing professionally and eventually becomes a world champion. That’s the story of Scottish boxer Josh Taylor right there.

“I was the smallest in my year at school, all the other boys were huge. They started to get hairy chests but if they tried to bully me I would defend myself. That continued until I was 17, 18,” he recounted in an interview with The Scotsman.

“But then I started boxing. I got good at evading punches and hitting folk properly. That was a good time to stop fighting in the street because I was developing useful weapons. I grew up a bit and learned how to walk away.”

Under the guidance of coach Terry McCormack, who he has been with since the very beginning of his career, Taylor won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and gold at the 2014 one — the highlight of his amateur career. Since turning professional in 2015, Taylor has racked up an undefeated record of 17 wins with 13 knockouts and gone on to unify the light-welterweight titles.