Josh Taylor believes he should be 'more of a big name' ahead of Apinun Khongsong clash

Josh Taylor will fight Apinun Khongsong in unified light-welterweight title defence on Saturday night live on BT Sport

Josh Taylor believes that he has not recieved the recognition he deserves for his achievements in Boxing back in his native Scotland, and believes that after signing with Top Rank last year, should be a household name especially if he can become the first Scottish undisputed world champion since 50 years ago with the great Ken Buchanan.

Taylor will take on Apinun Khongsong on Saturday night on BT Sport in a unified light-welterweight world title defence, making his return to the ring for the first time since his superb victory over Regis Prograis back in 2019 to become the unified world champion.

The fight will take place behind-closed-doors once again due to the ongoing pandemic, and will be targeting another victory to retain his undefeated record and look towards a future challenge with WBC,WBO champion Jose Ramirez next year.

Taylor revealed that he feels he deserves more credit for his professional pedigree to date, and believes that his nationality has changed the way he has been percieved and his popularity throughout his career.

He told the Glasgow Times: "I’ve not had the recognition that I feel I really deserve, especially given what I’ve achieved so quickly in my career. Boxing fans and sports fans know who I am but I think I deserve to be a wee bit more popular and more of a name in Scotland. I don’t live for that and it’s not something that hugely bothers me but I just think if I were English or Irish I’d be seen as the best thing since sliced bread," Taylor told the Glasgow Times.

“You look at Ricky Burns, a three-weight world champion. And outside of boxing and a few other sports fans, do people really know who he is? Probably not. And that’s a crying shame when you consider what we’ve both achieved for Scottish sport. But I’m grateful to the boxing fans who follow us all the way. I want to do it for them and for my country and the flag. I want to keep Scotland on the map.

The 'Tartan Tornado' also has emphasised his confidence of being able to set up a undisputed clash with Ramirez, but has questioned a potential venue and the publicity surrounding the fight, with a lack of sporting venues in the Scottish capital.

“It would be brilliant to have that fight with Ramirez] in Edinburgh but at that time of the year where is it going to be? I’ve no problem with having fights in Glasgow as I love the people there and I’ve always had a warm reception. But ultimately you want to fight in your home city if you can as I’m an Edinburgh boy.

“Edinburgh is the capital city and for it not to have an arena for major indoor events is an absolute joke. They’re doing far too many student accommodations all over the place, rather than building the city for the people. They’ve doing up Meadowbank but at the back end where the velodrome was they’re building more accommodation. That bit of land there was huge and could have been a big indoor arena. I want to have these big nights in my hometown but it’s just not possible at the moment.”

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