When a boxer suffers the first defeat of their career, a period of soul-searching often follows, and even the normally exuberant Scott Allan was no different.

The Shotts fighter fell to his first loss at the hands of Kash Farooq in January, and he remembers well the shattering experience of sitting in the locker room afterwards, towel over his head, absorbing those unfamiliar emotions.

What was worse for Allan was the sinking feeling in his gut that he knew the loss was at least partly his own fault.

He admits to having become complacent in the lead-up to the match, only completing a four-week training camp and uncharacteristically cutting corners in his preparation.

But as he gears up for a rematch with the Glasgow fighter on September 9th, Allan has vowed that will never happen again.

In fact, he insists that he is in a better condition now six weeks out from the fight than he was the last time he got into the ring with Farooq, and he is determined to make amends for the worst night of his career.

“On the night of the fight against Kash, I was the first to congratulate him and hold my hands up that the best fighter won,” Allan said.

“I don’t want it to come across as sour grapes, but that was an absolute shadow of Scott Allan that stepped into the ring that night.

“I don’t know why, but I had become a bit complacent. Looking back, I don’t know what I was thinking only having a four-week camp for that fight.

“I suppose I was thinking that I would just turn up and walk through him as I had done to everyone else in my career to that point, but I did that by preparing properly.

“Going into that fight, I was skipping training days sometimes and if I didn’t feel like going to the gym, I just wouldn’t bother going. It’s crazy when I think back on it, and it’s not like me at all.

“It’s the first time and the last time that I will ever cut corners in my preparation. It was a harsh lesson, but it might turn out to be the making of me.

“Rest assured, this time Kash will be facing the best Scott Allan. I hope that the best Kash Farooq shows up again too, because I know that even at his best he can’t live with me.”

There is an obvious clash of styles between the two fighters out of the ring, with Allan ever the showman and Farooq quiet and understated.

In the ring though, Allan believes that his boxing style is markedly superior to his opponent’s, and he is desperate to show up those perceived limitations when the bout rolls around.

“I was on the same bill as him with my first fight back, so after I won I watched him, and he was pedestrian,” he said.

“He was so one-paced. I don’t know if it was because he was fighting a journeyman or what, but he was just throwing slow three-punch combinations and then doing it again and again.

“There were no power punches or anything like that, he was just plodding along. He’ll have to bring more variation and more power if he is going to trouble me.

“I know he doesn’t have that concussive power, that knockout punch, I’m not worried that he could knock me out at all.

“No harm to him but I should be beating him every time if I’m in top condition, and I can guarantee you that’s what he’s going to be facing this time around.”