Josh Taylor is topless and sporting a giant pair of sunglasses as he sits outside for this interview to make the most of the recent heatwave that has swept across the UK. He is in good spirits, too, ahead of his return to the ring in Glasgow this weekend.

“It's been glorious weather for the last couple of weeks, it's been great,” says the man from Prestonpans, unaccustomed, like most Scots, to weeks of sunshine. “I've got an absolute belter of a tan on my face but the rest of my body is pure white - I can’t go into the ring looking like a bean sprout, you know.”

Taylor could well be a bronzed Adonis by the time Saturday night comes around but it is how he looks in a boxing sense that will be the most intriguing aspect of his top-of-the-bill contest versus Ekow Essuman at Glasgow’s Hydro arena.

It was at the same venue three years ago that things started to take a turn for the worse for the self-styled Tartan Tornado. It had all been positive until that point, Taylor taking on and beating every challenger put in front of him to become the first British boxer to be crowned undisputed world champion in the four-belt era.

That had been a frenetic, adrenaline-fuelled rush to the top but since then his career trajectory line has flattened then dipped. He was fortunate to hold on to his titles with an unconvincing homecoming defence against Jack Catterall in February 2022, was well beaten by Teofimo Lopez in New York a year later to surrender his last remaining super-lightweight belt before Catterall got his revenge in Leeds last May.

That might have been the right moment to retire but, 12 months on, here we are, with Taylor ready to open up what he calls “the final third chapter of my career” in a new weight division, welterweight, and backed by new promoters in Frank Warren’s Queensberry.

For many boxers at the twilight stage of their careers such moves tend to be prompted out of financial necessity but Taylor says it is the desire to become a two-weight world champion rather than any materialistic gains that serves as the most powerful motivation.

“I've made decent money,” he says of a decade spent in professional sport. “Obviously, I would have liked to have been paid more money but I'm financially okay. I've made good investments as I've moved up through the ranks. I've been smart with it.

“I live a humble lifestyle anyway. I don't really go out spending and flashing money anyway. I still live the life I've always lived. I'm still very much into boxing, and I've been smart with the money that I've earned, so I'm not doing it for money.

“I'm doing it for the love and the pride of the sport, and my passion and my legacy of becoming a two-weight world champion and going down in the history books as one of Scotland's greatest fighters.

“If I didn't have that goal, I wouldn't be in boxing now. I don't have to be spending months and months away from home, away from my wife, away from my family, down in Liverpool. I don't have to do it, but I'm doing it because I want to and I've still got that desire.”

Taylor, wisely, isn’t looking too far ahead but his prospects of fulfilling that ambition would be greatly advanced if Essuman’s European title was on the line this weekend, as the Scot believes it will be.

“It’s good [if the WBO European belt is up for grabs] because it gives me a title, which then gives me a ranking on the world scene,” he adds. “But at this point in my career I'm just thinking one fight at a time.

“I made that mistake in the lead-up to the [first] Jack Catterall fight, looking at what was going to be after it. And I almost paid the price for it. So I'm not making that mistake again. I know there won't be a shortage of options moving up and moving forward at welterweight.

“I'm only 34. I didn't turn pro until I was 25, you know? So it's not like I've been pro since I was 16 or 17 and been in loads and loads of wars. I'm still fresh.”

Taylor had struggled in recent bouts to boil down to meet the demands of super-lightweight and believes the extra 7lbs at welterweight will make this week a lot more comfortable for him.

“I've only got to cut a couple of pounds, which I can do at night, like literally in half an hour or an hour. So I've got none of that pressure on me at all.”

There is still time for Taylor to visit some of the remaining items on his boxing bucket list. For years one was the chance to share a ring with Manny Pacquaio – Taylor named his dog after him – but he is ill at ease at the thought of at fighting the Filipino for a title as he prepares to return to competitive boxing aged 46.

“Listen, I would absolutely give my left foot to share a ring with my hero,” he enthuses. “It would be absolutely amazing. But as a competitive fight, I don't think I would want it. What's in it really for me is a lose-lose. If I go in there and I win, I've beaten up a 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao.

“Or if I go in there and I lose, I've lost to a 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao. So, it's a lose-lose situation. But in terms of just going in there and doing an exhibition, just sharing the same ring with my hero, would be absolutely fantastic.”

The other items on his wish list are closer to home. While Taylor has, reluctantly, given up on ever fighting on the promenade outside of Edinburgh Castle, the Hibernian fan is still targeting a big night of boxing at Easter Road.

“It's getting to the point now where - when I get the right fight – Hibs are looking to put it on. I've been to Easter Road and done a couple of speaking events and I believe David Gray and his wife are coming to watch me this weekend which is great.

“So, hopefully I've got a little bit of influence in the club and that can bring a big night to Easter Road for a big fight. Imagine if I could win a world title at a second weight at Easter Road. Would that be a perfect way to bow out the sport or what?”