Here is promoter Frank Warren's preview of his show on Saturday at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland: [Former world junior welterweight champion] Josh Taylor is back in business with a new beginning at welterweight. Queensberry returning to Glasgow for a major show has been a long time coming. We were supposed to be here at this very arena in 2020 staging a Josh world title defence, but then covid came along and we ultimately ended up having to do everything behind closed doors. So better late than never. I am delighted to have Josh as a Queensberry fighter for his welterweight journey and he will be tested, believe me, by his opponent in Ekow Essuman tonight.
Ekow is a proper fighter and someone I hold in the highest regard. He has been with us a long time and has delivered the goods, winning plenty of titles and always giving entertainment value to the fans. If it wasn’t for a slip-up at the end of 2023, Ekow would have fought for a world title by now, but he has built himself back and taken part in two thrilling fights since then.
Josh’s journey is well chronicled. He has suffered misfortune in his last couple of fights, but he is Scotland’s Undisputed King and nobody can ever take that away from him. However, Josh and ourselves are convinced that he has plenty more to give and that his welterweight voyage will come to a successful conclusion. Like Josh said, if he didn’t believe he could become a two-weight world champion, he would call it a day and put his feet up at home instead of spending weeks on end training away in Liverpool.
It will be fascinating to see this fight unfold, as will be another crackerjack of a fight between two hugely talented Scottish featgerweights in Nathaniel Collins and Lee McGregor, who are set to go to war. Both of these men have highly impressive credentials, with Nathaniel winning the British and Commonwealth [titles] before illness took him out of the game for a period. Lee won so much, so early, becoming Commonwealth, British and European champion in the fastest time for a British fighter. His career came off the boil for a while, but he seized his moment over in Riyadh at the end of last year by defeating Isaac Lowe and now he is properly in the featherweight frame.
Glasgow tonight gets to witness the best young heavyweight in the world in action. Moses Itauma will fight Mike Balogun in just his 12th fight as a pro and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he was fighting for a world title before the year is out. This young man is very, very special and I am delighted to bring him to Scotland.
