Prediction,

Great match up! This should be an interesting fight.

Josh Taylor is one of the best prospects in the UK in my opinion, I think he is capable of being Scotland's best boxer in history, he still has quite a lot to prove, but his last 3 performances have been brillaint, he has been more impressive as he has moved up the levels. Taylor has big boots to fill if he wants to do Scotland proud like Jim Watt, Ken Buchanan did, but I think he can do it, and I think he will be a world champion. This is a really good test for Taylor, he has beaten great against British level fighters like Dave Ryan, moved up to fighting Davies (a guy at a similar career stage to him, in what seemed to be a 50/50 fight), in a fight I thought he would lose, dominated him, and he has made great statements against a couple of opponents who are good by 'tune up'/stay busy standards, but now, he is fighting a former world champion, a proven world level fighter, on paper, it is a massive step up in class, this is a really good test for Taylor, he's dominated an apparently limited and overhyped Ohara Davies, stopped Miguel Vazquez, impressed against these guys, now let's see if he can do the same against a fighter of the higher calibre of a Postol.

I think in his prime, Postol was very good, he knocked out Lucas Matthysse (the only fighter to ever do that), he has wins over Yvan Mendy, Henry Lundy as well, he was a world champion after beating Matthysse, and at that point, Postol was a tank, training with Freddie Roach. The fact that Postol seemed like such a threat to even a fighter of the level of Terence Crawford, shows you how good he was, how highly he was rated, on the other hand, when it came to it, he was given a boxing lesson, outclassed throughout, dropped, humiliated, that may suggest he was overrated, but I think that was more to do with the fact that he was fighting Terence Crawford, quite possibly the best boxer in the world. Postol is not the fighter he once was, he is 34, he has only had one fight since losing to Crawford, nearly two years ago, he won that fight, but was dropped. Postol's opponent was 14-0, so you could argue that he happened to face a good fighter, but you could also argue that the opponent was a low level fighter compared to Postol and he shouldn't have struggled. Whichever way you look at it, Postol has not been active in the last couple of years, he is not a young fighter, and it is highly likely his last opponent was a step down from Lucas Matthysse, which strongly suggests he has fallen down a level himself. I think the Crawford loss did physical damage, but more so, it was the mental affect it must have taken, being beaten like that, it is demoralising. We don't know whether Postol is flat out shot and ther be blasted out in a mismatch, or substantially weaker than 3 years ago, but still with enough left in the tank to go at it hard for 12 rounds, and be a moderated version of his former self, but either way, he isn't the fighter he used to be. Postol, in theory, does have a lot to gain from this fight, but I don't think he will really compete in this fight the way he would have done a few years ago.

I think because Taylor is the fighter on the rise, because he keeps impressing time and time again, building his unbeaten record, and has established himself as a talented young fighter with his best still to come, and Postol is more of a faded champion who hasn't retired yet, and hasn't really bounced back from that solitary but emphatic loss, Taylor should be a very heavy favourite.

I think in 2015, Postol would have taught Taylor a painful lesson about what happens to inexperienced fighters who are rushed, but timing is very, very important, and in the past few years, Taylor has improved a heck of a lot, and Postol has declined. Prime on prime, I think Taylor is a better fighter than Postol, partly because of how highly I rate Taylor, partly because Postol was possibly not quite as good as a lot of us thought he was before he fought Crawford, Taylor probably hasn't quite peaked yet, and Postol has faded, but if either guy is in their prime, it is obviously Taylor, and timing suits him down to the ground, so this is not a tough call for a prediction I don't think.

I think mentally, Taylor is in a better place than Postol, he has 7 years on him, Postol is faded, and I think Taylor is capable of beating any Viktor Postol, I could be proven wrong, is Taylor quite that good?, we don't know, and this is still a step up in class, a good test, but I think the more interesting questions are about how Taylor will take care of business, rather than it being about whether or not he wins.

Postol is slightly taller than Taylor, has much longer arms, that makes the fight more interesting, we'll see how Taylor deals with that disadvantage, and Postol, experienced at world level, he has had over double the professional fights Taylor has had, he might take confidence from these factors, and also, as he proved against Matthysse, Aydin, Postol can punch, 12 stoppages, doesn't always display his power, but he is big for the weight, and when he can really get to his opponent, has him where he wants him, he can do damage. Postol will still hit hard, he will still have a certain degree of experience value, he might be able to utilise his reach to some extent in the early stages, but his reflexes, ability to stay in that rhythm, his punch resistance, stamina, legs, all these attributes and will be weaker than the Postol of old.

I think early, for 3 rounds or so, this will be close, Postol might even seem to be taking the start from Taylor, I think the Scot will have real early problems, Postol is awkward, experienced, and he is not so old and past prime he outright shouldn't be there, he might test Taylor's chin, I definitely think he will test his adaptability. Josh Taylor is really good offensively, he is varied with his shots, he is accuarte, his jab is really sharp, he is light on his feet, always moving in and out of range, but that left hand to the body is something else, that is a killer, I think Taylor goes to the body better than most fighters in the world. I think Taylor will fire off those body shots early against Postol, and he will start to take a toll in round 4, Postol will struggle with the fleet-footedness of Taylor as well, always moving in and out of range, but because Postol is tall, and stands in a basic way, keeps his guard high, if you move your feet well, you can attack him to the body, he is stiff as well, doesn't ride shots well, and as he comes forward, if Taylor could draw him into a body shot, like Terence Crawford did against Indongo, that could be it.

I think Taylor knocks Postol out, makes a statement, maybe finishes the fight in 6 rounds.

140 is brillaint! I think it is a shame Crawford won't fight any of these top contenders, but he has good fights at 147, and even without Crawford, Regis Progaris, Jose Carlos Ramirez, Josh Taylor, Sergey Lipinets, what a division!

What a fight!

Postol is nowhere near as far past his best as I thought!
Taylor had problems there, looked like he was going to lose at one stage, suffered from his slight inexperience, got hurt in one of the rounds, was made to miss, took a lot of punches, but Taylor, when in deep waters, after 8 rounds or so, proved to be adaptable, proved he is a very good world level fighter, and came out with that finish, and Postol was still awkward even in the last few rounds, but Taylor showed offensive versatility, offensive accuracy, timing, and a few times, he was able to excute a brilliant single shot attack on Postol, and then be prepared to capitalise if he hurt Postol, and he did that brilliantly, especially of course in round 10, when he landed that lovely left hand, Postol was badly hurt.

I think Postol should retire now, that was a hard fight, but he might decide not to. I don't know where Postol goes from here, because he did lose this fight, and at his age, he is only declining, I don't think he has anything to prove.

I thought the fight was quite close, I had Taylor behind after 8 rounds, I had him winning, but not by a wide margin, I think it is a disservice to Postol to give him only 1-3 rounds, Taylor knew it, McGuigan admitted it shouldn't have been that wide, for crying out loud, 7, 8, 11 points, more or less the margins Crawford beat Postol by!