Boxing: Josh Taylor

JOSH TAYLOR, the Edinburgh lightweight, is savouring the thought that he will have an opportunity to catch the eye of several influential figures when he leads a five-man Scotland team against England in a ground-breaking amateur international at the St Andrew’s Sporting Club later this month.

Taylor, 21, is already the proud possessor of a Commonwealth Games silver medal from Delhi two years ago. But the Lochend ABC member is hoping to achieve bigger things in London this summer after being selected as a member of the Great Britain Podium Squad.

“Josh is our big hope for the Olympics,” said Richard Thomas, chairman of Amateur Boxing Scotland, who are running the Glasgow show on 20 February in conjunction with promoter Tommy Gilmour. “Delhi was a big stepping stone for Josh and he went on to win significant European honours. He travels with the GB squad to Turkey in April for the European qualifiers and I am confident he will be successful.”

It is the first time in its 39-year history that the St Andrew’s has hosted amateur boxing and Thomas confirmed: “We will be showcasing some of the finest talent in the country.”

Gilmour explained that he is staging “The Road to Glasgow” as part of the build-up to the Commonwealth Games in the city in 2014. He said: “We want to provide a platform for these young boxers because they are potential participants in the next Commonwealth Games.

“The St Andrew’s has featured many great champions at world, European, British and Commonwealth levels and my motivation for staging this show is a desire to assist in ensuring that our boxers are properly prepared for 2014.”

• Nathan Cleverly insists it would be a “recipe for disaster” to underestimate Tommy Karpency at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena on 25 February. WBO light-heavyweight champion Cleverly has been matched against the little-known American for his homecoming fight.

But the unbeaten 24-year-old from Cefn Fforest said: “A lot of people have written Tommy off, but they’re not the ones who are stepping into the ring.”