Josh Taylor and Teófimo López out to jump-start stalled ascents in title fight

S ome of boxing’s most compelling matchups wither on the vine before they’re finally made and others take place before they’ve ripened. One could argue that Saturday’s fight at Madison Square Garden between Josh Taylor and Teófimo López falls partway into each column.

Like the soupy haze that has enveloped Manhattan for most of the week, the outlook ahead of the scheduled 12-round showdown for Taylor’s WBO junior welterweight title is thick with uncertainty. Both men are former unified champions in different weight classes whose once-clear paths to mainstream stardom have been diverted not by outright disaster, but lengthy spells of inactivity and performances short of their heightened standards. Yet each is heartened by the reality that a restoration of luster is one big result away. Crossroads fights like these seldom take place so close to the summit.

The palpable ill will that has defined the promotion reached a boiling point on Friday afternoon when Taylor and López exchanged insults and venom after making weight, separated on the stage by three meters and half-ton of security detail after the traditional staredown was scrapped. And after a rancorous build-up that has come in below even boxing’s lenient standards for poor taste, the opening bell can’t come soon enough.

López, who made the wrong kind of headlines last month for stating that he aspires to kill an opponent in the boxing ring, has doubled down on the abhorrent claim in recent days, threatening during Thursday’s final press conference to take Taylor’s life on Saturday night. The champion, for his part, has labored to keep the discourse above board and within the bounds of sportsmanship, but not backed down from López’s cruel intentions.

“I think it’s