Josh Taylor had to 'stop kicking people in the head' after moving from taekwondo to boxing

Josh Taylor has admitted that he had to stop himself from ‘kicking people in the head’ during sparring after making the switch from taekwondo to boxing.

The Tartan Tornadowill defend his WBA (Super), IBF, WBC, WBO and The Ring belts against mandatory challenger Jack Catterall tonight at the OVO Arena in Glasgow.

Currently the undisputed super-lightweight champion of the world, Taylor was born in the Scottish town of Prestonpans in 1991.

A decorated amateur, he took up boxing in 2006 at the age of 15 and began a journey which would see him compete in different countries all over the world.

He represented Scotland at both the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games, losing to Thomas Stalker in Delhi before winning the gold medal in Glasgow.

But before he started boxing, however, he practised taekwondo as a child growing up in East Lothian.

Taylor, 31, told talkSPORT: “I was a black belt in taekwondo.

“I was going all over the place doing competitions and then got into teaching it as well.

“But then it started taking over my life a little bit, where I was training all week and then on the weekends I was coaching.

“I just fell out of love with it a little bit.

“But I always loved the training and doing the combat side of it.

“I just wanted to get something to do to keep fit really.

“I was watching Alex Arthur on the boxing – when I was a young kid, he was challenging for titles.

“He trained at my mum’s work – the Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh.

“My mum’s very friendly with him, so I managed to go in and watched him training a couple of times.

“Then I started joining in with him. I was just sitting, watching him. I was starstruck at the time and not saying much.

“He was like, ‘Get up and do something, you’re just sitting