UKASHIR FAROOQ is a name to watch out for. Except hardly anyone calls him that any more. It is always simply Kash, even to his family. The only time he hears his full name these days is when he steps in to a boxing ring, as he will do again tomorrow when the 22-year-old unbeaten prospect from Glasgow defends his British bantamweight title at the Emirates Arena against Iain Butcher from Motherwell.

On those occasions, Kash becomes his nickname, although Craig Dickson, his trainer since the early days of his nascent professional career, has also christened him “The Untouchable” given his man’s unorthodox method of defence that involves bobbing and ducking his head rather than simply putting up his gloves.

Farooq initially had his heart set on a different moniker but Dickson dissuaded him. “You can’t be called The Mongoose!” he jokes, as the pair sit down in the reception of Kynoch’s Gym in Kinning Park after some early-morning training that saw a punchbag take some sustained punishment.

Regardless of what they call him, there is an undoubted buzz growing around Farooq. Much of that can be traced to his previous fight when he stopped Jamie Wilson after just 73 seconds to become British champion.

With the BBC streaming the bout online, a clip of the decisive punch – a thumping right hand that sent his opponent sprawling – soon went viral. Alex Arthur, the former world champion, described it as one of the best shots he has seen.

“That’s had more than 600,000 views online and I’m probably responsible for 599,000 of them,” says Dickson of the blow that left Wilson dumped on the canvas. “Kash has an exceptional talent that we’re hoping can take him quite far. I’d say world level isn’t out of the question.”

“I never expected that punch to come off the way it did”, adds Farooq modestly. “And it got a lot of attention, especially with it being on TV. If the fight had gone the distance it wouldn’t have got the same interest. But it was a great way to win the British title.”

Hype like that won’t do Farooq any harm but the Pakistan-born boxer – he moved to Scotland with his family aged six – would rather construct a

reputation over the longer term as a versatile, consistent fighter rather than as someone known for occasionally unleashing a jaw-shuddering punch.

Those turning up tomorrow – or tuning in on Box Nation– may do so looking to see if he can repeat the trick against Butcher, but Farooq knows sometimes he, and his fans, might need to be patient.

“I remember watching Butcher boxing in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010 when I was just starting out,” he says. “So he’s been on the go for a while. People might turn up for this one thinking it’s going to be another quick knockout, but it might not be like that. You have to be ready to go 12 rounds as sometimes that’s what it takes.”

This will be just the 11th professional fight of a career that is quickly gathering momentum. Farooq is wary of looking beyond Butcher but opportunities abound in the New Year, especially the possibility of a crack at Commonwealth title holder, Edinburgh’s Lee McGregor.

“Right now my mind is on Butcher,” he says. “But the bantamweight division in Scotland is looking strong. It will be a big fight between me and McGregor if it happens.”

Farooq first climbed into a boxing ring eight years ago when a schoolfriend invited him to join him at the local gym in Scotstoun. It was not something the then-teenager approached with any great relish.

“I wasn’t interested in boxing at the start,” he recalls. “We did circuits and it was hard going. But the trainer saw me hitting a few bags and asked me to come back. I came back and did some sparring and it just continued from there. Now I love boxing. I’m not very materialistic but I want to be secure [financially] before I stop boxing. You need titles to get that, so that’s as much of a motivation to keep winning as anything else.”