DAVID Haye had finished his workout and was more than ready to go home for the day. But Shane McGuigan, the heavyweight’s trainer at the time, said it might be worth his while to hang around a few minutes more. Who should step into the ring but Josh Taylor, freshly turned professional after claiming Commonwealth Gold for Scotland at Glasgow 2014.

“I had finished my training and Shane said ‘wait around a little bit, I’ve got something special for you’,” Haye told Herald Sport. “So I did and I was like ‘who the hell is that?’ I couldn’t believe this was the same kid I had seen at the Commonwealth Games. Although he was punch perfect there, seeing him as a professional, with his new style, and the added professionalism McGuigan brought to the table, I knew he was going to go places. And I wasn’t wrong.”

While Haye is now retired, he predicted there and then that Taylor would be a future world champion and he doesn’t pull any punches here either when it comes to his former stablemate’s prospects three years down the line. The 27-year-old will take a giant step towards that prophesy if he can take care of Viktor Postol, the 34-year-old Ukrainian who is a former holder of the WBC title, at the SSE Hydro tonight, and Haye is convinced that Taylor will win it in some style. Not only that, but go on to unify the belts at super lightweight in the manner than that US phenomenon Terence Crawford did, then go on to claim world titles at welterweight to become one of the greatest Scottish fighters of all-time. So impressive has the Scot been in his 12 fights to date that Haye delivers all these lines without making any of them seem like the most outlandish of predictions.

“I genuinely feel that Josh Taylor is one of the best fighters we have in this country – even though he doesn’t have a world title – YET,” said Haye “He is going to unify the belts and then I can see him moving up to welterweight. The better the opposition in front of him, the more he raises his game.

“Shane has done a tremendous job with him, taking him from the start. And he is going to bring him all the way to the top. He has an exciting style, he is all-out action, you never see him in a boring fight. He could just get the win on points but he pushes the action and looks for the stoppage.

“I have always been very excited about him and he is a lovely guy as well, a super sweet. He is going to go down as one of Scotland’s best-ever fighters – he is that good.

“On paper, taking on Postol is a massive step up. He far surpasses him in terms of experience. He has all the credentials. But one guy is past his prime and the other guy hasn’t even reached his yet. I have no doubts that Josh will win it in convincing style. Word around the camp is that he has been sparring great. I no longer train in the gym but I still hear things and everybody has been saying that he is just going from strength to strength.

“So in a year to 18 months he could looking at unification fights then moving up to welterweight. It is a big ask but it has been done before and if anyone has the talent to do it, it is Josh. He brings the power, the slick, southpaw, sharp-shooting style. There are some massive fights out there for him - you start talking about literally the biggest names in the boxing world and a lot of these big names are pushing 40. These big marquee names are coming to the end of their careers and he is just getting going. He could pick some of these big super-names off and become the next generation.”

Haye has retired before, but aged 37, has no ‘second thoughts’ when it comes to re-thinking his decision to give up the sport once and for all in the wake of a second back-to-back defeat against Tony Bellew. With four major operations in five years, he feels ‘he has given as much I can humanly give’. He looks back fondly on the night he fulfilled a childhood dream by defeating the 7ft 2in Nikolai Valueev, David versus Goliath style, to become heavyweight champion of the world but would derive a different kind of pleasure from guiding Joe Joyce, whom he promotes through his Hayemaker Ringstar business, to achieve something similar. Scotland’s Willy Hutchinson was also part of that stable, although he now trains at the Ingle Gym and is promoted by Frank Warren.

“Willy is another I think can win world titles in the future,” says Haye. “Ingle is a great fit for him, I really like what he has done with Kell Brook. Scotland has some really good fighters and they are all personalities as well.”

While he dodges adroitly away from a recent report that he could be considering a return as an MMA fighter, Haye feels boxing and MMA can happily co-exist. If he could change one thing about the sport, it would be having more of it free to air. “It is a working man’s sport and a lot of my fights happened on pay per view,” he said. “So if you didn’t have £20, you didn’t see the fight. More of it must be available to the masses.”

**David Haye was speaking ahead of Action for Children Scotland’s ‘Sports Dinner 2018’ in Glasgow, sponsored by PG Paper LTD.