BARRY McGUIGAN does not doubt that Josh Taylor has the ability to challenge Ricky Burns' status as world super lightweight champion.
But the ring legend insists that timing is everything as far as Taylor is concerned following the 26-year-old Prestonpans boxer's latest success in retaining his Commonwealth title at Meadowbank Sports Centre against South African Warren Joubert, by dint of a sixth round stoppage.
"Josh has got so many gears that he made a guy with 35 fights under his belt look like a novice," said McGuigan.
"It was a great performance. It wasn't faultless though, and he'll need to make some slight adjustments. But I've been so impressed with how he's handled everything.
"He's used to being flat out at 100mph for three rounds, but he's now learning to take his time. He's also fighting middleweights in the gym and knocking seven bells out of them.
"It's hard not to get over-excited and say things that our opposition class as exaggerations. But he's just very talented.
"He's got the ability to fight Burns just now. My only concern is the gap between having nine professional fights to world level. Let's say he gets there in 12. Where do you go after that?
"You can’t just pause and hold those titles for a couple of years. That's the dilemma. You've also got to look at Ricky. Will he beat Julius Indongo, who is a heavy puncher and seems fresh? I certainly hope so because we are in a very envious position.
"Josh sparred with the European champion Anthony Yegit last year and he was way too good for him so we won’t get that fight unless we pay him stupid money or go to Sweden.
"There are fights at British level, such as Ohara Davies, Jack Caterall, Robbie Davies but they won’t want to fight him. But we don't really care about those guys, we are looking at the top of the mountain.
"We’ve got to look at where we will be in five or six months time, keeping our fingers cross Burns wins. I can't say how long it will take, but I can see him with the likes of Crawford or Broner and that ilk eventually.
"We know boxing can change in the blink of an eye but he's on the road and he's a special talent, a future world champion."
Taylor's manager also revealed that the undefeated fighter has his heart set on appearing at the capital's most famous landmark in the foreseeable future.
He added: "It's his dream to box at Edinburgh Castle and we'll have to make that work one day. But we'll need to find the one month of the year where it doesn’t p*** down in Edinburgh!
"We'd also like to move him around. He's already fought in America three times and been on the undercard of world title fights.
"He made his pro debut on a title bill in Texas, which I don't ever remember happening before, and he's taken all the right steps so far.
"Things are going to get tougher but it's going to be exciting. Maybe next time we will take him to Glasgow because we don't just want him to be pigeonholed.
"We want him to be a Scottish fighter, not just an Edinburgh fighter. Boxing support is tribal like football but this fellow is going to be a national hero.
"I am excited about this guy because he's a ferocious trainer and a phenomenal talent who is also very funny, good looking and with a big fan base. The television people also love him because he's thrill a second."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here