Josh Taylor to defend world title against Teofimo Lopez on June 10

Josh Taylor is to defend his WBO super lightweight title against Teofimo Lopez on June 10.

The Scot will take on the highly-rated fighter at historic New York venue Madison Square Garden in his first fight since February 2022 when he won a controversial points victory over Jack Catterall to remain undisputed world champion.

Taylor has since vacated three of his four titles, and a planned rematch with Catterall was postponed several times but the Prestonpans fighter will now put his remaining belt on the line against Lopez.

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said: “This is a super fight on both sides of the pond, the junior welterweight king in Josh Taylor stepping up against the young, dynamic Teofimo Lopez.

“I cannot wait for these two supreme talents to step into the Madison Square Garden ring. It’s going to be a special night.”

Lopez held three unified titles at lightweight and defeated Vasily Lomachenko but a loss to George Kambosos was a setback and he moved up in weight last year before beating Pedro Campa and Sandor Martin.

Taylor is thrilled by the prospect of taking on the American, who has won 18 of his 19 fights, 13 by knockout.

“He’s got a great style,” the Scot told Sky Sports. “You’ve got to give credit where credit’s due.

He went out and beat Lomachenko who at the time was one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet and he went out and won.

“He’s a very good fighter. Stylistically I think it’s a very good fight for myself as well with the way he comes to fight. He comes looking for you and doesn’t take a backwards step. He’s a very aggressive, front-foot pressure fighter.

“I like a bit of a fight myself. I’m not shy to having a good fight and a good tear up. So I think it’s got the makings of being an absolute barnstormer of a fight.”

“I think it’s going to be great while it lasts. I think one of us is getting knocked out, and I don’t think it’s going to be myself that’s for sure.”

Taylor first came to prominence when he won gold at the Commonwealth om Glasgow in 2014 before starting his professional career and swiftly rising up the ranks.

Wins over Ohara Davies, Miguel Vazquez and Viktor Postol enhanced his reputation and the World C

“I like a bit of a fight myself. I’m not shy to having a good fight and a good tear up. So I think it’s got the makings of being an absolute barnstormer of a fight.”

But he added: “I think it’s going to be great while it lasts. I think one of us is getting knocked out, and I don’t think it’s going to be myself that’s for sure.Boxing Super Series gave him the opportunity to fight for world titles.

Taylor won his first world title when he defeated Ivan Barnchyk to become IBF champion before a points win over Regis Prograis added the WBA title to his name.

In 2021 he met WBC and WBO champions Jose Ramirez in Las Vegas and defeated the American to become only the fifth man in history to be declared undisputed world champion in the four-belt era.

His first defence of all four belts came against Catterall last year and Taylor was knocked down in the eight round but won on split decision. The result proved controversial, with most pundits and experts having called Catterall as the clear winner.

Taylor remained defiant and claimed that the challenger had not done enough to take his belts.

The 32-year-old has since changed trainer, splitting with Ben Davidson and working with Joe McNally.

Last month he told id Boxing he was “getting back to my old self”.

He said: “You know I just felt like before I … sort of felt my style was trying to get changed a little bit. I kind of got caught between two styles and stuff and I just felt like I was getting taken away from what my best attributes are a little bit too much. I just felt like at the end I needed to change something, I needed to change.

“That’s nothing to do anything with Ben or anything like that, I’ve learned a lot from Ben as well, and he improved me in a lot of ways as well.

I improved a lot under Ben too and learned new things from Ben too, it’s just that I was getting steered away from what my style is and what my attributes are, getting changed instead of adding, that sort of thing. And I just felt like I had to change, I had to change my whole surroundings.”