JOSH TAYLOR, the Commonwealth super-lightweight champion, has yet to put a foot wrong on his climb to the top.

The 26-year-old from Prestonpans has dealt ruthlessly and efficiently with the eight opponents he has faced since turning professional in the wake of his Commonwealth Games triumph at Glasgow 2014, stopping seven of them in their tracks.

Yet that has not been quite enough to satisfy the exacting standards of for his manager, Barry McGuigan, the former world featherweight champion.

According to the Clones Cyclone, the Tartan Tornado is destined to become a world champion in his own right but is not yet quite the finished article.

His failure to maintain his 100 per cent stoppage record in his most recent bout against Alfonso Olvera two months ago in Las Vegas suggested to McGuigan that Taylor remains a work in progress, albeit the Mexican was dealt with efficiently enough to produce an unanimous points win.

Consequently, the Irishman is looking for something a bit special from Taylor this evening when he makes a first defence of his belt against Warren Joubert at Meadowbank Sports Centre in the capital.

"He’s got to look spectacular because he didn’t look spectacular in America," explained McGuigan yesterday. "That said, he was fighting a tough kid who’d been around the block and he wobbled him a few times. But didn’t blast him out.

"He was disappointed, but I wasn’t. It was his first big run out on Showtime but he’s already known in the States and they are excited about him, they love the way he fights. But let’s see how he does here and then go from there."

There are all sorts of interesting possibilities for Taylor provided he disposes of the threat posed by 35-year-old Joubert, a durable and experienced South African who has lost four of his 35 contests.

The European Boxing Union title is one possible route McGuigan is exploring, given that Taylor has sparred with Anthony Yigit, who beat Englishman Lenny Daws to win the title, and has the measure of the Swede.

But Ricky Burns, the WBA title-holder who will face Namibian Julius Indingo, the IBO and IBF champion, in Scotland's first world championship unification bout next month, is, in the words of McGuigan, "the elephant in the room."

"Burns has been muted on the subject of fighting Josh so we need to keep blasting opponents out so he has to take notice," said McGuigan.

"We have got real reverence for Ricky; real respect. We’ve seen a lot of nonsense talked recently before fights but you won’t get any of that here because you can have a great fight and a great spectacle and still have respect.

"We’ve got that for Burns. He’s a phenomenal fighter, one of the Scottish greats. It’s unfair to compare eras so you can’t say if he would have beaten Ken Buchanan or Jim Watt.

"But Burns is the epitome of a fighter who made the most of his ability, more than any fighter I know. His determination, desire and work ethic has been incredible and what he has achieved is remarkable.

"But I genuinely believe Josh is the better boxer. He has more tools. But it's not made up with just ability though. It’s about resilience and the will to win, to risk going to the limit.

"Burns has shown us that is what gets him through tough fights. It wasn’t a draw when he fought Beltran and he was lucky against his last opponent and that shows me he is reaching the end of the road.

"But Ricky’s tough and he deserves his success and Scottish boxing fans deserve this fight at some point. We have it to prove though by continuing to win because Burns has already proved it.

"There’s a gap between domestic and world class and that’s why we want to test Josh. Joubert is durable and will take him in to the second half of the fight.

"But he can go 12 rounds in the gym with a middleweight - who wants out after eight - so there’s no problems with him going the distance."

It's a measure of Taylor's increasing power that several sparring partners have beaten a hasty retreat and refused to return after just one session.

"These have been middleweights and light middleweights so that's a mark of how good Josh is and how much he strives to become better in his quest for perfection," said McGuigan.

"In the amateur game with the gloves you don’t get knockouts until you get to the heavier weights. But when you get to the pro game you need to actually slow down to get the power, pace yourself and let it go.

“Josh wants to be flat out but we are trying to get him to be that bit more selective place his punches a bit harder and he's taking all of that on board."

Both boxers scaled 9st 13 lbs at yesterday's weight-in.