Capital trio heading west to feature in a feast of boxing

McMillan is first into the ring when he faces Latvian opponent Andrejs Loginovs at the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow’s city centre on Friday evening. The 25-year-old is relishing his light middleweight bout lasting six rounds of three minutes and doesn’t expect anything too  demanding.

“It will give me a bit more experience,” McMillan said. “I am fairly confident and will give as good as I’ve got. I feel strong and don’t think this guy will give me any trouble. There have been no hiccups with my training, so I’m ready to go on Friday night.”

Saturday will pitch cruiserweight fighter Stephen Simmons and light middleweight star John Thain in the undercard of the eagerly anticipated Scotland-England clash when Ricky Burns meets Kevin Mitchell for the WBO’s World Lightweight Championship at the SECC.

Simmons, 28, will face Nottingham’s Courtney Owen and is brimming with confidence after recently electing to change his coach. He now feels new mentor, Danny Vaughan, has prepared him to the best of his ability despite their short-term working relationship.

He said: “I feel good and ready. I’ve changed my coach and we’ve really gelled.  I couldn’t have asked for a better couple of weeks. I’ve been on holiday with my fiancée, did my training in the mornings, so I’m looking forward to getting in there. With it being in Scotland, it’s going to be awesome. It’s going to be a really lively crowd, so I can’t wait.”

Simmons also expects a home winner in the main event, adding: “I think it will be a good, hard and close fight, but I just fancy Ricky Burns to get a late stoppage.”

Thain will also meet English opposition in Lee Noble, a figure he describes as a bit of a “journeyman”. Predicting a tough bout, 24-year-old Thain has had the benefit of having some of the finest training in the business after recently returning from a two-week stint at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles.

Speaking about his time in LA and his opponent on Saturday, Thain said: “I enjoyed the hard work out there. It was great to have the warm weather and the heat, so the muscles were warmed up quickly. I was also out with a great bunch of lads from the club.”

“I think he’s (Noble) only won about 15 out of 40 fights but only been stopped twice. He’s a tall guy so I’ve got to take control from the start. I’m always training hard but for the past couple of weeks it’s been about staying sharp, so I’m happy. You always want to be on the big shows as it can lead to bigger things and I’ve never boxed at the SECC, before so it’s exciting.”