Boxing: Taylor on the cusp of gold in Belgrade

Lochend's southpaw ace and Scottish amateurlightweight champion Josh Taylor brilliantly boxed his way to gold medal contention yesterday in the Belgrade-based Winners International Tournament by outscoring semi-final opponent Miklos Vargas of Hungary by 7-6 points to secure a place in the lightweight final.

And despite the narrow margin of victory in his semi-final bout, Taylor won the tournament's "Best Technical boxer of the Semi-Finals" award from the neutral ringside judges - the third time Taylor has won "Best Boxer" Awards in East European internatonal tournaments.

Earlier, Taylor's quarter final victory in Belgrade by 8-6 over Uzbekistan's Olympic contender Hurshid Tojibaev brought rave reviews from his coach at the Serbian event, Mark Geraghty, who said: "Josh gave a totally commanding performance against Tojibaev."

Taylor now clashes later today in the final for the 60kgs gold medal against Mongolian D. Jlagot, of whom Taylor's club coach Terry McCormack described as being a short, stocky southpaw. McCormack added: "Josh should be able to use his superior reach and southpaw right jab - we are all optimistic he can bring back the gold."