A third consecutive defeat to Ekow Essuman has left the former undisputed champion reeling, writes , and it is not at all clear what comes next

Josh Taylor was the undisputed champion of the world only three years ago and now those years seem ancient.

On Saturday night, in front of a capacity crowd in Glasgow, Taylor was in the fight of his life to save his career against Ekow Essuman. He lost for the third time in a row.

At the bitter end of twelve torrid and bloody rounds, all three judges went for Essuman, Taylor just dropped his head; it was tight, but just. And now Taylor has some serious decisions to make about a career in turmoil.

In many ways it was a perfect storm of injuries, delays, tough fights, Covid restrictions and a hard career combining to send Taylor tumbling from his pedestal in 2021. Beyond the fall, his status is secure as British boxing’s only undisputed male boxer in the four-belt era. Taylor is in the very best company.

Taylor has never been hurt, smashed, beaten badly or suffered too much damage in his 22 fights, but they were hard fights from the very start of his career. Also, his sparring routine was once equally brutal, which is an established fact and not an accusation.

In 2019 Taylor won the first of his four world title belts in just his 15th fight. It was a great win, the second in a sequence of six fights against unbeaten boxers, including five for world titles.