Former undisputed 140-lb champion Josh Taylor announced his retirement, ending his 10-year career due to medical reasons.

Taylor, 34, had lost his last three fights, with the unkindest cut of all coming with a defeat against Ekow Essuman, a 36-year-old welterweight that is more fringe-level than one of the top guys. That loss, in addition to Josh’s two previous ones against Jack Catterall and Teofimo Lopez, was a clear sign that he needed to hang up his gloves.

Josh Taylor’s Eye Injury Ends Boxing Career

On social media, Taylor stated that his decision to quit the sport was due to an eye injury. He didn’t reveal how long he’d had the problem. His career began to suffer as far back as February 26, 2022, when he won a controversial 12-round split decision against Catterall in Glasgow, Scotland. Many boxing fans viewed that as a robbery.

The 2012 Olympian Taylor (19-3, 13 KOs) achieved a lot in a short five-year period between 2017 and 2022. In that time, he defeated Regis Prograis, Miguel Vazquez, Jose Ramirez, Viktor Postol, and Ivan Baranchyk.

Analyzing Josh Taylor’s Career Decline

The Prograis and Ramirez fights were both wars, with Taylor taking a lot of punishment in winning 12-round decisions. Josh briefly held the undisputed light welterweight title with his win over Ramirez.

After the win over Ramirez in 2021, Taylor lost the momentum that he had. He was involved in the controversial win over Catterall, which tainted his career, and then began vacating his titles. In 2022, Taylor vacated his IBF, WBA, and WBC 140-lb titles when ordered to face Alberto Puello and Jose Zepeda.

In hindsight, if Taylow had defended against Puello, he likely would have lost, and his career would have unraveled right away with that defeat. Even at his best, Taylor would have had massive problems against Puello. Avoiding that fight was a smart move for him.

End of an era. I have lived my dream for the last 10 years & conquered Mount Everest.
Thank you to every single one of you for the support through what has been this mad rollercoaster of a journey.
Boxing is all I’ve ever known but Now
let’s see what life has to offer on the… pic.twitter.com/CLLpozqh6u

— Josh Taylor (@JoshTaylorBoxer) July 21, 2025