Josh Taylor became undisputed super lightweight champion on Saturday night with a win over Jose Ramirez, and said he had worked his whole life for the achievement.
The 30-year-old Scot became Britain’s first undisputed world champion to hold all four major belts by way of a 114-112, 114-112, 114-112 unanimous decision over his American rival.
While Taylor was briefly troubled by a cut to his eye in the fourth round, he asserted his dominance in the sixth and seventh round, when he dropped his rival twice in successive rounds.
Speaking after the fight, Taylor said: “I'm ecstatic. I've trained my whole life for this.
“I've dedicated my whole life for this moment. I've dreamt of it so many times over, man. I'm so, so happy. I'm over the moon. I've trained for this moment all my life.”
The build-up to the fight was marked by a number of aggressive exchanges between the pair, and before the fight the pair were part of a shoving brawl, but Taylor explained that the aggression was merely part of a game plan, and not indicative of any bad blood on his part.
"I've got nothing but love for Ramirez,” he claimed after his win.
“This week was no disrespect. It was all part of the mind games to get in his head, to make him more eager to jump in at me and be more aggressive, to use his aggression against him.
"I thought the scorecards were a little tight. I thought they were well wider than that. I wasn't too happy with the selection of the judges, but I wasn't going to moan. I was confident in winning this fight anyway."