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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Marie Sharp

East Lothian boxing hero Josh Taylor gets local support ahead of title defence

Scotland's undisputed world boxing champion Josh Taylor has been given the backing of his home county ahead of this weekend's title defence.

East Lothian Provost John McMillan sent best wishes to the local fighter as he brought a meeting of the council to a close this week.

READ MORE: East Lothian Council fears Covid funding gap will top £14 million next year

Josh, who is from Prestonpans, made history last year when he became the first Briton to unify a division in the four-belt era with victory over Jose Ramirez in Las Vegas.

But this weekend he faces a challenge from Englishman Jack Catterall for all four titles in a showdown at Glasgow's SSE Hydro.

Thousands of fans lined the streets of Prestonpans to give Josh a hero's welcome when he returned after defeating Ramirez last May.

The victory added the WBC and WBO light-welterweight titles to his WBA, IBF, and Ring magazine championships - making him the first Scot since the great Ken Buchanan to rule as undisputed champion.

Josh, 31, turned professional a year after winning a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and is one of only six men in the world to be a unified four belt world champion.

Councillor McMillan said: "I want to wish Josh Taylor all success in his defence of his titles on Saturday."

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