I RETAIN a vivid memory of the wet and miserable Saturday morning in the midwinter of 2010 (or was it 2009?), when the skinny and callow figure of Josh Taylor arrived at Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh to join in the regular strength and conditioning workout that I would put his fellow Lochend Boxing Gym stablemate, John Thain, through in those days.

Josh arrived in a beat-up nondescript car and who could possibly have imagined the journey he would take from there to here, headlining a stacked card on Saturday night at the O2 in London for the unified world super lightweight title, Ring Magazine belt, and the World Boxing Super Series Muhammad Ali? 

Standing between Taylor and the keys to the kingdom of world boxing renown is Regis Prograis, the current number one to Taylor’s number two in world super lightweight rankings.

Prograis like Taylor is a southpaw and also has in common an undefeated record — 24 fights to Taylor’s 15.

But Prograis’s undefeated record doesn’t tell the whole story — which is that this native of New Orleans who’s now based in Houston is so good that’s he hardly lost a round, never mind a fight, as a pro. 

It is why Josh will need to pull of an epic and career best performance if he’s going to prevail against the slick American. Based on how sharp and fast he looked in his public workout on Wednesday, it’s precisely such a performance that he and trainer Shane McGuigan have trained for. 

If anything, Prograis has appeared the more relaxed of the two in the lead-up. However when the roar of a packed O2 first hits him as he makes his way to the ring, he will need to draw on all his experience not to let it affect his concentration. 

Taylor of course is in the same boat, and in his last fight against Ivan Baranchyk in May in Glasgow for the IBF title, which he subsequently won, it was hard to avoid the conclusion that the occasion and crowd was a factor in what was by his standards a less than optimum showing.

No such margin for anything less than a near punch perfect performance is available for this fight, one in which Taylor will need to fight to a strict gameplan, focusing on using his jab and quick feet to maximise his height and reach advantage with distance control in mind.

Someone in no doubt that Taylor has what it takes to overcome Prograis on Saturday night is Terry McCormack, the 28-year-old Scot’s amateur trainer who has also been an ever-present in his corner since he turned pro, assisting McGuigan. 

When I caught up with him earlier in the week, he assured me, “Josh is ready. He knows what he’s got to do. I think Prograis will struggle with his intensity and power, especially in the later rounds.”

By the end of that gruelling session at Arthur’s Seat on that wet and miserable Saturday all those years ago, Josh and John Thain were soaked through with a combination of sweat and rain. 

As we stood chatting in the car park adjacent to Holyrood Palace prior to parting company, the two of them rehydrating with water and sipping protein shakes, the contrast between the splendour and ostentation of the palace with the lives of these two young working-class guys working towards and dreaming of greatness in the ring struck me. 

True royalty didn’t reside there – it was standing right here.