On 30 June 2018, it was announced that Taylor would join the eight man tournament.[2] It was later announced on 13 July 2018 that Prograis would also be taking part in the tournament.[3]
Prograis defeated his quarter-final, and semi-final opponents, Terry Flanagan, and Kiryl Relikh, to win the WBA light welterweight title.[4][5] Taylor defeated his quarter-final, and semi-final opponents, Ryan Martin, and Ivan Baranchyk, to win the IBF light welterweight title.[6][7]
On 31 August 2019, the unification bout between Prograis and Taylor was announced to take place on 26 October at The O2 Arena on Sky Sports Box Office.[8]
Speaking during the build up Taylor expressed confidence saying "I'm very confident that I can outbox him and outfight him as well, I'm all about my speed, reactions and timing but I punch real hard as well for someone of my size. If I hit you, you're either going down or you're going to be hurt and in trouble. So if he tries to make it a 'dog fight', tries to walk me down and drag me into a fight, he is getting chinned. I will knock him spark out. The two best lads in the division are going for it. We are both undefeated, we are both hungry, so it's going to be a real interesting fight. But I can't see anything other than a Josh Taylor win."[9]
Prograis entered the fight as a slight favourite to win.
The first of the PPV bouts saw a stoppage wins for welterweight prospect Conor Benn and Lawrence Okolie winning the European cruiserweight title, stopping champion Yves Ngabu in the 7th.
WBO No. 13 Ranked Lightweight 3-division world champion
Result
Selby defeats Burns by majority decision
The following bout saw former featherweight champion Lee Selby face former 3-division champion Ricky Burns in a Lightweight clash.
Selby had sparred with Burns ahead of the Scot's 2014 defeat to Terence Crawford. Burns had been out of the ring for more than 11 months since his October 2018 stoppage victory over Scott Cardle.
Speaking to BBC Wales during the build up to the bout Selby stated that the loser of the bout would be finished at world level, saying "There is a lot on the line in this one, it could be career-defining, you could say. If Ricky Burns loses to me then it looks like retirement for him. If I lose, then I have to be realistic and say it doesn't look like I am going to win another world title and I will have to drop down a level. It's the only way to look at it. I am a realist and if I can't beat Ricky Burns I am not going to beat one of the world champions."[10]
Burns meanwhile expressed relive that he was back in the ring saying in the "Finally I've got one over the line. It's been a frustrating year for me, a couple of fights have been spoken about but fell through. Obviously, my last fight was November so we pulled it out of the bag with this one. I know I've got a tough fight, as Lee said, we've sparred before. On the night the best man will win but I just feel I'm going out there to do a job. Training has been going well so far and I can't wait."[11]
The fight
Selby would start the bout the stronger, working off the jab, getting better of the exchanges where both men were focusing on landing counters. At the end of the 5th round Burns landed a punch after the bell leading to Selby's corner entering the ring to prevent their man from potentially retaliating. At the start of the next round the referee Bob Williams, gathered both boxer in the middle of the ring to warn them. Burns would build momentum from the 7th. At the end of 8th Burns would complain that Selby had struck him after the bell as well. Selby would come back to win the 10th and the final two round were close though Burns appeared to be tiring.[12]
After a very close fight, Selby managed to win on two of the scorecards, 116–112 and 116–113, while the third judge had it a draw, 115–115.[13][14]
Aftermath
Speaking to Sky Sports after the bout Selby said "I had to dig in but we're both Celtic warriors and love a tear-up. I want to be the first from Wales to win two legitimate world titles [in two weight divisions]."
The chief support saw former heavyweight world title challenger Derek Chisora face former British and Commonwealth champion David Price.
On 31 August 2019, a bout between Chisora and former world champion Joseph Parker was announced as the co-main event of the Taylor vs. Prograis card.[15] However on 2 October, it was announced Parker had been forced to withdraw from the fight due to a spider bite that was causing illness during training.[16] On 8 October Price was announced as Chisora's replacement opponent. Price was on a 3-fight win streak since being stopped by Sergey Kuzmin in September 2018.[17][18]
The fight
Chisora came out throwing punches, looking to land, but Price, the taller man, was looking to hold and at the same time land some of his own shots. In the 2nd, the action continued with both trying to land shots. The 3rd round saw Chisora increase the pressure and upped the pace of the fight. Chisora got Price on the ropes following some shots to the head and it looked as if the end was near. Price landed a right uppercut on Chisora's chin, backing him up. The 4th started and Chisora did not take any chances in trying to get Price out of there. He landed shots on the inside overwhelming Price, who began to breathe heavily, eventually dropping to the canvas for the count. Price managed to beat the count with the help of the ropes looking distressed. It appeared as though referee Howard Foster was going to let the action continue until Price's corner threw in the towel, giving Chisora a 4th round TKO.[19]
Aftermath
In the post-fight interviews, Chisora said, "I came to seek and destroy. If I caught him, he would be gone. It was just business. He stepped up and saved the show. He buzzed me and caught me with an uppercut but I recovered easily and I came back and finish the job." Chisora also said that he was hoping to be added to the Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II undercard, which was scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia in December.[20][21][22]
Taylor spend much of the bout on the front foot with Prograis using head movement to evade before attempting to land counters with both hands.
After 12 hard fought rounds, Taylor was awarded a majority decision victory with scores of 115–113, 117–112 and an even 114–114.[23][24]
Aftermath
Following Taylor's win, in the post-fight interview, Taylor challenged WBC and WBO light-welterweight champion José Ramírez to an undisputed title fight.[25] Prograis expressed interest in a rematch.
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