Josh Taylor promises to deliver a KO in welterweight debut

Josh Taylor will take on former British champion Ekow Essuman at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday night, May 24, on his welterweight debut, having previously reigned as undisputed champion at super-lightweight.

Taylor and Essuman headline the ‘Land of the Brave’ event promoted by Queensberry, shown live on DAZN worldwide.

The final press conference for Taylor-Essuman took place at the Scottish Event Campus and below are some key quotes from the media day:

Josh Taylor: “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.

“Obviously training has been gruesome and hard, hard work, but it feels like I am at holiday camp this week. 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.

“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.”

Ekow Essuman: “Thank you to everyone in Glasgow for accepting me, everyone has been extremely welcoming and it is a beautiful place. I am just happy to be here.

“That is the whole point of it, we’re supposed to do that [in response to Taylor’s taking out comment]. I don’t take offence to it, it is what it is. He’s in my way, I’m in his way.

“Of course he believes it, he should. That is good, if Taylor wants to try and end it early it might be to his detriment. We are going to find out on Saturday. I came prepared for the best Josh Taylor there can be, so this is just confirming what I thought would come.

“It doesn’t matter about being his backyard or if it was back in Nottingham or in London. I don’t have a lot of shows I’ve boxed on in my home city, like big shows, so I am used to being the away fighter.

“It is just same job, different venue.”

Also on the bumper bill is rising heavyweight star Moses Itauma who takes on former NFL player Mike Balugon, whose only loss was against Murat Gassiev.

In a pair of all-Scottish match-ups, Nathaniel Collins faces Lee McGregor, while Aston Brown and Reece Porter go at it in a battle of unbeaten prospects.

An intriguing cruiserweight clash sees powerful puncher Aloys Junior and David Jamieson contest the WBA Continental and Commonwealth championships, while the sons of two Scottish boxing legends, Alex Arthur Jr and Drew Limond, make their pro debuts.