Boxing: Jesse Taylor wins New England heavyweight title in Tamworth

And though Boxcamp's John Quinn was a very real threat in the opposite corner, Taylor had already overcome his biggest challenge before ever stepping through the ropes.

"These last couple of weeks, I worked 10 hours most days and then came down to training [at One2Boxing Westside]," Taylor said.

"On Fridays, I have an hour break when I finish work at 12, and then I've got to four hours of TAFE at work. The last three Fridays, in my hour break, I was leaving work and doing cardio sessions at the gym ... it was just crazy."

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The training camp leading up to the bout was one of the hardest of Taylor's life. But it paid off, as the Tamworth resident was the fittest he had ever been, and ready to put on a show for his home crowd at the TRECC during the City vs Country fight night.

The 24-year-old, a welder by trade, is a naturally bulky man who weighed roughly 108 kilograms before he began training seriously in 2022, and slimmed down to 91kg when he started fighting regularly but maintained much of his natural power.

Though it was not the plan to look for an early finish on Saturday, Taylor wound up knocking Quinn out midway through the first round.

"I knew he was going to come out and go hard," he said.

"I knew he was going to have a fast pace, and I didn't want to try and match his pace. I wanted to stay calm, stay relaxed - I was planning on going the four rounds."

But when an opening presented itself, Taylor took it and then chased a hurt Quinn across the ring to secure the win.

He leapt onto the ropes before the referee had even had time to officially call off the fight, and began celebrating with the raucous crowd.

"I was really nervous before the fight, but when I won it was the best feeling," Taylor said.

"In front of a home crowd, it was the most people I've ever had watching me."

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