Josh Taylor hoping for another ‘big night’ in Glasgow against Ekow Essuman

Taylor was in fine form ahead of his homecoming, having fought his last two bouts in New York and Leeds

Josh Taylor is preparing for his first fight in a year (Richard Sellers/PA) (PA Archive)

Former undisputed world champion Josh Taylor is looking forward to getting back to winning ways with a ‘big night’ at the OVO Arena in Glasgow this Saturday.

Although born and raised in East Lothian, Taylor has often fought out of Glasgow since turning professional. He will fight Ekow Essuman as the headlining act in Scotland, with hopes of a victory after back-to-back defeats against Teofimo Lopez and Jack Catterall.

With fight week well and truly underway, the pair faced off once more at the final press conference for Saturday’s show, which will be shown live on DAZN.

Taylor was in fine form ahead of his homecoming, having fought his last two bouts in New York and Leeds.

The ‘Tartan Tornado’ was excited by the prospect of once again fighting at the OVO Arena, having already won four title bouts at the venue.

Speaking at the press conference, he said: “It is great to be back here and this has been my home since the Commonwealth Games.

"I’ve had most of my big fights here, Victor Postol, my first world title against Ivan Baranchyk, so I’ve had most of my big nights here, so I am looking forward to getting back. It has been a little while since I’ve been here, so I am looking to put on a big show on Saturday.”

Taylor’s fight with Essuman marks his first at the 147-pound limit, with the Scot previously serving as undisputed champion at super lightweight.

The added freedom of a few extra pounds has allowed Taylor to remain relaxed ahead of the bout.

“Obviously training has been gruesome and hard, hard work, but it feels like I am at holiday camp this week,” the 34-year-old explained.

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“No dieting, cutting weight or drying out tonight, getting the last bit of water you can out of you. There is none of that this week, I am full of beans, full of energy with a spring in my step. I can’t wait to get going on Saturday.

"I will get this journey rebooted and kickstarted again. Take care of business on Saturday, do it in a good fashion and look forward to moving on to big fights in the future.”

Having won all four belts at 140 pounds, Taylor felt that it was time to move up a weight class, despite loses to Lopez and Catterall.

In fact, the Scot felt that he had ‘completed boxing’ by claiming the WBO, WBA, WBC, and IBF titles at super lightweight.

He restarted: “At 140lbs, what else was there left for me to do? I’d completed boxing in a sense and won every single belt in boxing you can win. What else was there for me in terms of challenges, setting new targets? There was nothing to do. So, what there was, was moving up with an assault on becoming a two-time, two-weight world champion. I am planning on taking this guy out on Saturday and that is what I’m going to do.”

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