I’m going to batter Lopez for his sick comments, says Taylor before title fight

JOSH TAYLOR wants to batter Teofimo Lopez into quitting after the American said he hoped to KILL the Scotland star.

The 32-year-old Tartan Tornado has taken his WBO super-lightweight world title to Madison Square Garden to defend against the loudmouth who has refused to apologise for his sick threat.

The undefeated braveheart has somehow kept his cool, in the face of the rock-bottom trash talk.

But the recently-married ace vows to let his rasping southpaw jab and vicious left power punch get revenge on the seemingly troubled challenger.

Ahead of the Saturday night showdown, he explained: “All it does is give me more fire in my belly and more desire to give him a real pasting and really hurt him.

“I really didn’t need motivation for this fight but, after what he said, I want to punish him and he will be made to pay for what he said.

“It will be a barnstormer while it lasts but I think I stop him.

“I think I make him retire on his stool from the accurate punches that will bust him up so bad.”

Taylor’s hero Ken Buchanan – perhaps Scotland’s finest ever fighter – sadly lost his life on April 1.

And, in his first fight since the sad loss, Taylor will pay a special tribute to his legendary mentor who gave him great advice – as well as inspiration – and walked an almost identical path.

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He said: “I knew Ken very well, from when I was a young lad of around 18.

“He came into the gym I was training at and gave me tips on how to live, inside and outside of the ring, and how to apply myself and give it my all.

“He told me great stories of the time he headlined at Madison Square Garden and he even had Muhammad Ali come and ask him if he could share the dressing room with him.

“Ken agreed but he drew a line down the middle of the room and told him: ‘that’s your side, this is my side’.

“He was a genuine legend of a man and – in my opinion – one of Scotland and the UK’s greatest to ever do it.

“When I win this it will be a great story to tell my future kids and grandkids, I will be able to tell them that I went and did what one of Scotland’s greatest ever did and I now have a small place alongside him.

“I could not make his funeral so my fight shorts are a tribute to the ones he wore in Madison Square Garden, it’s one of the ways I can pay my respects to him.”