BRITAIN’s youngest professional heavyweight boxer has a burning desire to see his name up in lights. Given that name is Jay “Kidd Dynamite” Carrigan-McFarlane that would likely require an entire team of electricians working day and night, something this one-time trainee spark could well appreciate.

That trade might come in handy one day but it’s not in McFarlane’s thinking right now. Not when this 19 year-old from Knightswood in Glasgow has his sights set on becoming the heavyweight champion of the world. If that sounds like the boldest of claims, then it is not one delivered with typical boxer’s braggadocio. McFarlane is softly-spoken and thoughtful, and it is clear this is a message underpinned by unwavering confidence and an unstinting determination to prove his doubters wrong.

In his bid to climb to the top, McFarlane has been given the most unlikely of early leg-ups. Having only boxed professionally for the first time at the end of last year, his third bout will take place on Saturday night in that holiest of boxing Meccas – Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a surreal proposition but one made possible due to sharing a sponsor – Rich Energy - with Gennady Golovkin, the undefeated middleweight world champion whose fight with Daniel Jacobs will top Saturday’s bill.

“It’s potentially the biggest fight of the year so far and Golovkin is probably the best fighter on the planet,” said McFarlane, perched on a chair inside the reception of MTK Scotland gym on Glasgow’s south side where he trains with Gary Jacobs, the one-time British, Commonwealth and European champion, and Sam Kynoch, his promoter but also a former boxer, too. “It’s incredible to be involved in that.

“I originally had a brief meeting down in London with people from the Golovkin camp after his fight with Kell Brook. They said they would get me over to America for this one. But when they said 'get me over' at the time I didn’t realise they meant to fight on the undercard. I would have been buzzing just to have been ringside watching but to be part of the night is just incredible. I don’t think I’ll actually believe it until the first punch is thrown.”

McFarlane heads out to New York on Tuesday, backed by a 12-strong entourage of family and friends lending their support. There he will undergo some light training for five days before his fight against the Californian Matt McKinney, and try to soak it all up.

“I’ll find a local gym somewhere but I really want to visit Gleason’s Gym. You don’t even need to be involved in boxing to know about that place. So I’ll do a wee bit of light work and get acclimatised, maybe go on a few runs. I’ll need to stay away from the restaurants as people keep giving me recommendations and I have to remind them that I’m going over to fight. But I’m not fazed by the occasion. I let pressure drive me.”

McFarlane is young for a heavyweight and small, too. He does not see either as an impediment. Taunted for his weight when he was younger, it was his aunt who took him to a boxing gym when he was just eight with a view to helping him shed the puppy fat. That start has turned into an 11-year journey to reach this point, one blighted by personal hardship and a succession of people, even those close to him, telling him he was pursuing the unlikeliest of dreams.

“When I was eight years old I was 13 stone - I was documentary fat!” he says, laughing at the memory. “I was scary looking. So I started just trying to lose a bit of weight and gain some confidence. But as soon as I was in there and threw a first punch at a bag I fell in love with it.

“I didn’t have the greatest upbringing in the world. I was without a chance. And I want to show a lot of people who were in the same position or me, who are maybe poor or struggling, that they can do it. You don’t need to be born with a silver spoon to succeed. Where I come from, dreams tend to stay just as dreams. But I want to prove that anything is possible.

“I’ve always told people from the start that I was going to be champion of the world one day. And everyone told me off and just said, 'it’s a hobby, don’t get carried away' and to get a proper job. Only one person truly believed in me and it was that wee fat boy. Now I’m starting to change minds.

“My motivation is everybody who told me I couldn’t do it. That’s all I’ve had all in my life, even from some family members. I want to prove them wrong. In my head I know I will become heavyweight champion of the world one day. I will get there. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and I’m going to have to dedicate the next 10 or 15 years of my life to it. But it will be worth it when I hear 'and the new…'

First, though, it’s on to New York, New York. And if he can make it there, he can make it anywhere.