SALVATION. That’s what really awaits the winner in New York City this weekend when super-lightweight world champion Josh Taylor takes on Teofimo Lopez at Madison Square Garden.

Not too long ago both men were being heralded as the future of boxing in one form or another.

Taylor was Scotland’s anybody/anywhere undisputed world champion, Britain’s most accomplished fighter and defining a legacy destined for the history books.

Lopez, meanwhile, came from practically nowhere to dethrone the great Vasyl Lomachenko, rule the lightweight division, and be named as a future potential driver of boxing’s lucrative US PPV market.

But in the fight game things move fast and currently both are enduring their worst days.

THE ROBBERY

It took Taylor exactly 18 fights to complete professional boxing. In just six years the now 32-year-old ran through a cavalcade of past, present and future world champions to unify all the belts at 140lb.

His fearless attitude and willingness to take risk after risk defined his championship run and led to plenty of warranted comparisons with the late great Ken Buchanan.

But in his planned swansong fight at super-lightweight, in Glasgow in January last year, Taylor suffered at the hands of the judges against Manchester’s Jack Catterall.

Taylor was actually handed the points decision to retain his belts and extend his record to 19-0. But he should have lost and the public fallout was damning.

In a sport stained with scoring controversies this was one of the worst and Taylor’s reluctance to admit to the controversy and subsequent failure to hand Catterall a rematch sabotaged a reputation he worked so hard to establish.

TAKEOVER OVER?

As for 25-year-old Lopez, he must keep himself awake at night wondering how his career has been allowed to meander so far away from the tracks.

After his breakout win over Loma, he suffered the sole defeat of his career to Aussie underdog George Kambosos Jr in his first defence of the belts and has limped through two outings since.

In December he was fortunate to get a decision of his own against Spain’s Sandor Martin, picking himself up off the floor early on. But it’s issues outside of the ropes in particular that have impacted on the youngster’s potential.

An ugly divorce means he’s also estranged from his newborn child, whilst his turbulent relationship with his father generates as many headlines as his ill-advised outbursts.

MAIN EVENT

Two former unified world champions locking horns inside the Mecca of boxing, armed with almost identical records and so much to prove all over again.

Technically, southpaw Taylor is the cleaner boxer and naturally the bigger man. But Lopez can set a pace behind his faster hands and intelligent workrate.

After the emotional rollercoasters these two have been on of late, this fight will come down to who has been able to hold it together best.

Taylor, with fresh impetus of a new corner team, has that edge. And whilst the opening rounds may prove frantic for both, expect ‘The Tartan Tornado’ to lay to rest the last 15 months and start his rehabilitation with the fans.

TIP: Taylor on Points (29/20)