EVERYBODY has dreams. Josh Taylor simply makes his a reality. Four years after claiming a Commonwealth Gold medal at the SSE Hydro, this Scottish sporting superstar was at it again – belting out Flower of Scotland on Saturday after sending Ivan Baranchyk back to Belarus to think again to claim his IBF World title. “If I was to retire tomorrow, I could retire a happy man,” he said the other day. “I can call myself a World Champion for the rest of my life.”

The only problem for the rest of the Super Lightweight division is that Taylor isn’t the retiring type – in any sense. And he is just getting started. As he sits in Ibiza just now with his partner Danielle, Taylor has his career charted out for him. Unify the division, then move up. As the fates would have it, the Tartan Tornado’s next opponent is Regis Prograis, a New Orleans native whose family was amongst those lives were turned upside down by the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katriona in 2005. Nicknamed after a mythical Louisiana apparition called ‘the Rougarou’, this unbeaten 29-year-old certainly talked the talk when he turned up in Glasgow last weekend for an early scouting report on his World Boxing Super Series super lightweight final, to be held at a venue tbc sometime around September.

With Taylor putting his IBF title on the line, Prograis bringing his WBA title to the party, The Ring magazine putting their belt up for grabs, and winner also walking off with the Muhammad Ali trophy, that is four separate pieces of silverware at stake. As it stands just now, the bookies make Prograis the odds-on favourite at 4/7 with Taylor the outsider at 8/5. But you would be a brave man to bet against Taylor.

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I was posted elsewhere when Taylor and Charlie Flynn claimed gold for Scotland on the final day of Glasgow 2014. Taylor then spent five of his first half dozen fights away from home at venues such as El Paso, Belfast, Manchester, Cardiff and New York. Let’s just say the bouts didn’t last long enough to justify the travel. None of them got beyond the second round.

His legend was growing. And a bout against Derby’s Dave ‘Rocky’ Ryan, at Meadowbank Sports Centre no less - where his mum Denise used to work and where he first came under the spell of Alex Arthur - was the perfect barometer. The 33-year-old from England fancied his chances of landing this vacant Commonwealth belt against such a supposedly untested opponent. The Scot had the job done in five rounds and was carried out shoulder high. A taut points win against the classy Ukrainian Viktor Postol was another moment where his journey might have veered off course. It ultimately served as the first of two world title eliminators.

But I am pleased to report that Taylor has finally arrived. Where once he would have fought across the pond with pretty much only his corner for company, now the Tartan Tornado can be assured of quite a travelling Tartan army in the event that the WBSS order him to attempt to unify the belts overseas.

Glasgow Times:

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With the Sauerland brothers at WBSS’ deep-pocketed backers Comosa AG adamant that commercial considerations will win the day when it comes to the venue for that September bout, a bumper SSE Hydro turn-out like Saturday’s didn’t hurt the bid to bring Prograis back to Glasgow. McGuigan and co. feel that Prograis cannot match the following which Taylor has acquired, nor the general buzz about that fight which would be generated in the UK media. Prograis thinks otherwise, but then Baranchyk wasn’t too keen on fronting up to our new folk hero in Finnieston either.

For Taylor, they are merely variations on a dream. “Having those big fights in front of my friends and family is amazing, I would love to have all my fights there now,” he says. “But If I have to travel I have to travel. I’ve been used to travelling my whole career. I would love to fight on a big show in America, so if that happens that is another on my bucket list, another box ticked.” Josh Taylor is a man with a dream. He may also be about to become Regis Progais’ worst nightmare.