FORGET the Thriller in Manilla and the Rumble in the Jungle. Last night was time for Josh Taylor to make himself at home in the dome. The self-styled Tartan Tornado became only the third man in history to get his hands on the Muhammad Ali trophy of the World Boxing Super Series winner when he took down the previously undefeated WBA champion Regis Prograis of the USA by majority decision in front of 16,500 raucous fight fans at the o2 in Greenwich.

But that was only part of it. Because this victory also means Taylor can lay claim to another precious piece of pugilistic posterity, as the first Scot to win a world title unification bout since his mentor Ken Buchanan took care of business against Ruben Navarro almost half a century ago to claim both the WBC and WBA versions of the world lightweight title.

While this was a supreme Scottish success story – the crowd belted out Flower of Scotland as the pride of Prestonpans added Prograis’ WBA title and the Ring magazine prize to his own IBF super lightweight belt - this was also the moment Taylor truly went global. Pencilled in for the next phase of his world domination plans will be a shot at Jose Ramirez to become undisputed champion in this weight class. After that, who knows.

But that post-match pint, with or without Prograis, will never have tasted sweeter. From the moment he gave up the Taekwondo and the football and put his fascination with motor biking on hold, this was the moment it had all been building to. "That was a walk in the park, wasn’t it?" he said. "Easy fight. All respect to Regis Prograis, but the best man won. I want to dedicate this fight to my father-in-law, who passed away in September. Thank you so much for coming out to see it happen - not just the Scottish fans. The journey is going to continue."

While Matteo Montella of Italy somehow made it a draw at 114-114, the other scorecards went 115-113 and 117-112 and there can be little disputing this victory. The Scot was first to make his ring walk, strolling on to Step On by the Happy Mondays, before Regis trotted on with his usual ‘Rougarou’ mask. An apparition which is meant to curse all this New Orleans’ native’s opponents, that is another ghost which Taylor laid to rest last night.

For all the trash talk between the two men in what has been an extended run-in to the fight, this was a chess match rather than a war and that suited Taylor – with more amateur fights than anyone - just fine. This was quality stuff but Taylor’s variety and greater range was giving his opponent fits, not to mention his left hand upper cut when he was up close. The opening stages belonged to him and he kept his discipline, even if the two men exchanged blows after the ball at the end of the third and fifth rounds.

Prograis had never been hit like this. And he didn’t know where the next punch was coming from. There was more pain for him in the seventh round, a right-hand upper cut drawing blood from Prograis’ nose. Taylor’s right eye wasn’t looking too clever either, particularly in a ragged 11th round, but the Scot had the last laugh more often in their exchanges.

While Taylor was greedy for more global glory, the last male Scottish holder of a world title was raging against the dying of the light. Because if this was to be Ricky Burns’ last shot at the big time, it was a brutal way to sign off from the sport. The 36-year-old's approach to boxing is miles removed from the machismo and posturing you see so frequently in this business but there was no more Mr Nice Guy as he went down in a bad-tempered lightweight contest against his one-time sparring partner Lee Selby. For all their supposed friendship, all the tricks in the book were deployed in this bout between these two world champions - late shots, head butts, elbowing and wrestling – and Burns was on the wrong end of most of it.

This was a tough one to score. But while Burns dominated the early running, too often, the quicker, sharper fighter was Selby and the judges came down on his side by majority decision. Steve Gray couldn’t separate the two men at 115-115, Howard Foster scoring it 116-112 to the Welshman and Scotland’s Victor Loughlin making it 116-113 to Selby.

As the crowd bayed their displeasure at the outcome, Burns had recovered himself to take the setback with his usual good grace. But this was a wounding eighth defeat for the resume. It is two years and counting since the defeat to Julius Indongo and those days seemed further away than ever last night. Elsewhere on a stacked bill, a right-hand upper cut from the power-packed Derek Chisora put paid to David Price, the Welshman who stood in for Joseph Parker when the New Zealander called off with a spider bite. .