McGUIGAN IS SURE TAYLOR IS JUST ABOUT TO GO GLOBAL

JOSH TAYLOR is on the brink of becoming boxoffice gold all over the world, according to ring legend Barry McGuigan. And the Tartan Tornado’s promoter has urged Scots fans to enjoy watching their hero in the flesh while they can — because there are no guarantees he will be back on a home bill any time soon. McGuigan believes Taylor, who has already fought in the United States three times in a blistering 12-fight pro career, will beat Viktor Postol in next month’s WBC Super-Lightweight world title eliminator in Glasgow. Beyond that, he sees a globetrotting future for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth gold medallist. McGuigan (right) said: ‘I firmly believe that this bout will be a tipping point for Josh. ‘Not only will a win guarantee him a shot at the WBC title, it will raise his profile — because beating someone as good as Postol will let everyone else realise just how good he is. ‘He’s already fought in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Brooklyn — and the Yanks just love him because he’s an all-action guy. ‘They want to see boxers who fight on the front foot and that’s Josh to a tee. ‘The Scottish fans have been great for him, but anyone who hasn’t seen him yet should snap up a ticket for this show — because he’s going to be so big that I can’t say for definite that he will be back on a bill here any time soon. ‘My advice would be to catch him while you can because Josh is going to go global. ‘If he continues to progress as he has been doing then we’ll be taking him all over the world. ‘We have a duty to him to do whatever is best for his career — both in a sporting and a financial sense — and that’s likely to mean that he’ll be fighting in lots of different countries as a world champion.’ McGuigan revealed that he had been tracking Taylor from way back in his amateur days — a full four years before he even turned professional. ‘I saw him as an amateur and my first impression was that he was really good,’ he said. ‘I watched him on TV and video — and saw him lose a debatable decision to Thomas Stalker at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. ‘He was boxing at 60kilos then but moved up to 64. ‘I then saw him box in Glasgow and immediately thought: “I’ve got to sign this kid” because I thought he was amazing. ‘You could see that he was skilful. ‘It was no problem for him to switch from an orthodox stance to fighting southpaw. ‘It was obvious to me that he had the credentials to become a good pro.’