MANCHESTER, England - Ezra Taylor believes that his ambition will be the deciding factor when he boxes Willy Hutchinson on January 24.

Taylor (13-0, 9 KOs) is talented and confident but the unbeaten light heavyweight will face the biggest test of his credentials yet when the two fight at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena.

Back in 2021, Hutchinson (19-2, 14 KOs) stumbled in his first test when Lennox Clarke stopped him in a British and Commonwealth super middleweight title fight.

He moved up to light heavyweight and has made his name over the past 18 months.

In June 2024, he outpointed Craig Richards on the Queensberry-Matchroom ‘5v5’ show before losing to Joshua Buatsi in an interim WBO 175-pound title fight three months later. The 27-year-old currently sits at No. 10 in The Ring's light heavyweight rankings.

Taylor has been gaining experience at domestic level but Hutchinson has dismissed his chances of springing an upset, stating the 30-year-old from Nottingham is at the same point he was seven years ago.

"If you was where I am now seven years ago, how the hell are we here?" Taylor said at the fight's launch press conference. "You must be like a failed prospect or something because seven years from now, I'm going to be a world champion."

Earlier this month, Hutchinson made his way to Manchester hoping to snare an early 2026 fight with the winner of the fight between his former conqueror, Buatsi, and Zach Parker.

He and Taylor bumped into each other at ringside and immediately butted heads.

Having beaten Troy Jones and later Steed Woodall this year, Taylor was ready to level up but many were surprised when it was quickly announced that the two had agreed to fight.

Taylor and his team have clearly looked beyond paper records and see the Scotsman as an attainable target.

Hutchinson was a precocious amateur who won the 2017 World Youth Championships and whilst he may be more well-known than Taylor, it could be convincingly argued that a win would be the second biggest victory of his eight-year long professional career.

He may have impressively outboxed the experienced Richards but was dropped twice by Buatsi and never really came close to beating the Olympic bronze medallist.

Hutchinson told The Ring that he sees the fight as 'money in the bank' but Taylor is approaching their encounter with an entirely different mindset.

"You see what he's motivated by? He's motivated by money," Taylor said.

"You see me? I don't care for money. Real talk. I don't care for money. I'm here because I sacrifice everything. You think I care for money? You think I'm getting paid big money.

"I want to become a world champion. Listen to what I'm saying, I ain't got time to worry about money and all that stuff. On the January 24 I'm going to batter you and you're going to see what serious motivation is.

"He's talking about I'm no good and whatever else, but clearly I must be decent because you're fighting me now on the 24th."