Scott Harrison has set his sights firmly on a world title challenge before Christmas.
The former WBO featherweight champion made a mockery of his six-and-a-half years out of the ring by stopping Hungarian Gyorgy Mizsei after 1min 30 seconds of the fourth round at the Kelvin Hall on Friday night.
With WBO lightweight champ-ion Ricky Burns in attendance ringside and also managed and promoted by the Alex Morrison/Frank Warren combination, a fight between the two Scots would not be hard to make.
But first Burns will have to negotiate a defence of his title against brash Londoner Kevin Mitchell on September 22 at the SECC, with Harrison conveniently set to be on the under card.
For his part, Harrison had no qualms in calling out the champion. The 34-year-old said: "I am back to fight for a world title and Ricky Burns holds one. So if that is a fight that can be made, then great.
"First I will sit down with my manager, Alex Morrison, and we will look at things and I will probably have another fight or two but ideally I'd like to be back in action in eight weeks or so.
"But I felt great and it was just an absolute pleasure to be back in front of my fans and repay them for their support."
Due to the limited quality of the 18-year-old Mizsei, it would premature to pass judgment on Harrison's hopes of turning back the clock, but all the former champion's old hallmarks were in evidence. From the opening bell Harrison displayed good footwork to constantly pressure his young foe into the corners where he was pummelled with six-to-eight punch combinations that dismissed concerns the Scot's hand speed may have fallen victim to the ravages of time and hard living.
The second session saw Harrison drop Mizsei three times with withering left hooks to the body and referee Victor Loughlin was forced to intervene after a scything right hand felled the hopelessly outgunned Hungarian midway through the fourth round.
Another happy man was John Simpson after he claimed the Celtic super-featherweight championship and earned a British title eliminator with a stoppage defeat of Paul Appleby after 2min 25 seconds of the sixth round.
"It was a great finish but all credit to Paul, he is a warrior," Simpson said. "I just feel so much stronger at super-feather and hopefully this is the springboard to the British title."
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