Ezra Taylor vs Steed Woodall: Who has the edge heading into their fight?

Ezra Taylor has been busily building up his fighting profile, having produced three victories since November.

Now, ‘The Cannon’ will look to end this year with a bang Saturday night when he clashes with Steed Woodall at London’s The O2 Arena, and live and exclusive on DAZN Pay-Per-View. The bout will serve as the co-feature to the pivotal heavyweight showdown between Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley.

After a first-round TKO of Kristaps Bulmeistars in November and a second-round KO of Ryan Maycock in March, Taylor (12-0, 8 KOs) produced a 10-round unanimous decision over Troy Jones this past May. He will be up against a veteran Woodall (20-3-1, 12 KOs) who counts double the pro experience than Taylor.

With Taylor and Woodall having the chance to take a significant step forward, DAZN News analyzes who has the edge heading into this light heavyweight tilt.

Boxing Styles

Ezra Taylor works behind an educated guard that is disciplined, while usually taking measured steps forward off the front foot. Once he gets hold of that desired ring real estate, Taylor then begins to assert his jab, alternating the stick upstairs and to the body. This is done methodically to set up something more damaging like his overhand right or uppercut.

Taylor’s stalking style will face a Steed Woodall who often must use movement to work his way inside where he mixes it up and also possesses a solid counter right.

With Taylor owning roughly five inches of reach advantage, he can knock on that door from outside before barging in.

He gets the nod for that in the styles clash.

Edge: Taylor

Power

Woodall counts 12 knockouts to his professional ledger to Taylor’s eight. However, the higher knockout percentage resides with Taylor who has won eight of his 12 bouts via knockout.

The eye test between these two also shows that Taylor is the more potent puncher with extra blunt force to his blows.

Edge: Taylor

Mental Warfare

Remember, Taylor was originally slated to fight Lewis Edmondson before the latter suffered an injury, cancelling the bout. Then, Woodall stepped in on short notice.

As it goes with short notice opponents, they can either step in late admirably as if they were preparing for this moment all along or they can be exploited and wiped out without sufficient time to be ready.

Either scenario can present itself Saturday night, though consider this: Taylor spent his entire camp planning for Edmondson and now must pivot.

There is pressure that comes with that whereas Woodall can simply be himself and fight his best as a late replacement.

This category can go either way, though we offer the slight edge to Taylor.

Edge: Taylor

Who has the edge in Taylor vs Woodall?

DAZN News has it 3-0 for Taylor as the bigger boxer-puncher in this fight. Woodall might prove durable and scrappy in this affair but Taylor has the tools to improve to 13-0 and do it with emphasis.

Watch Parker vs. Wardley live on DAZN

Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley fight on Saturday, October 25, to become the WBO mandatory challenger to Oleksandr Usyk. Watch the fight and undercard live and exclusive on DAZN PPV.

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