JOSH Taylor puts his WBC Silver super-lightweight title on the line on Saturday when he takes on Nicaraguan Winston Campos at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. The venue alone says everything about Taylor’s standing in domestic circles – and where he is headed.

For Alex Arthur, the former WBO super-featherweight title holder, Taylor is the main man currently in Scotland, and his stock will continue to rise when he beats Campos, a late replacement for original opponent Humberto Soto, the Mexican withdrawing after sustaining a cut in sparring.

That’s what Arthur believes.

“This is a big fight for Josh and it will be a tough test as well. Soto would have been a hard man, but don’t expect Winston Campos to be any easier. He has been given a real opportunity and will be desperate to take his chance.

“He has only lost three of 38 fights and will come here with the ambition of taking the title. But Josh will be too good,” says Arthur.

Campos is vastly more experienced in the pro ranks than the Scottish champion, but that doesn’t concern Arthur.

“People say he’s only had 11 professional contests and he is 27 years old. But he has an absolute wealth of experience as an amateur, and I’d say, given the standard of the opponents he has met – like Dave Ryan, like Warren Joubert, Ohara Davies and Miguel Vazquez – facing each of those guys is the equivalent to having two or maybe three contests against lesser opponents.

“To that end, working with the McGuigans, and particularly Barry, he is a shrewd wee guy, done it, seen it, in and out of the ring, and is good for Josh.”

As he showed in stopping Ryan, Joubert and Davies, and when knocking out Vazquez in the ninth round, Taylor is a crowd pleaser in terms of how he finishes off opponents.

“He is a great operator,” says Arthur. “He is fast, accurate, he has power. He knows how to use his south-paw style to his advantage. There isn’t anything he isn’t good at offensively.

“In defence, he is just as sound. He has a good chin, having been in with some guys who have a dig, and he stood up to them. He is a pretty complete package, and career-wise, he is heading in entirely the right direction.

“Josh won’t get it easy – no fighter ever does. The challenges posed by Campos – a late replacement, and relatively unknown – will bring another dynamic to Taylor’s game. He will learn and see things he’ll have to call upon the further up the ladder he goes. But Josh is a clever guy who does learn.

“But this is another step he has to take to where he ultimately wants to be, and anyone who pulls gloves on for a living wants to be, and that is a fully-fledged world champion.”

Taylor is an accomplished technician, good to watch, good for Scottish boxing, and particularly good for TV audiences. Taylor’s fight will be broadcast by Channel 5 with Arthur behind the microphone.

In terms of Scottish boxing, and terrestrial broadcasters, Taylor is according to Arthur, exactly what the sport needs.

“The audiences for Channel 5 have been good. And that will continue if they are backing the right fighters, guys who don’t need to be hyped to the hilt and will deliver in the ring. And that certainly is the case with Josh. Josh gets the job done and looks good doing it. That’s what fight fans want to see above all else.”

With the will-he-won’t-he debate rumbling on about what the future holds for Ricky Burns, the vacuum at world level for Scottish boxing needs to be filled. Taylor, for Arthur, is best place to do that.

It would also be fair to say that many see Taylor already as the successor after Burns’ back-to-back defeats against Julius Indongo and Anthony Crolla. He wasn’t knocked out, but he was beaten in every sense of the word.

By contrast, Taylor is on the up. But Arthur would like to see that progression mapped out sooner than later.

“I had that kind of frustration, fighting for this and that, winning and defending various titles. But you want a justifiable world belt. And Taylor is on his way to getting one. When is the key question.

“I hear it said that they are looking for a crack at the world title in the summer. Me, I’d get him another fight first then look towards the end of the year to go for the big one. I’d like to see him faced by someone else – Humberto Soto would fit the bill – have him that, then getting a chance at the world title. That’s just me. His management might see it differently, Josh might see it differently. Put it this way, if he was offered the fight, he’d take it – and it wouldn’t matter where.

“Fighting in Scotland is great, as we’ve seen in Edinburgh. But it wouldn’t matter where it was. Josh has been in the USA, Brooklyn and Las Vegas in the last two years, but has been to India, Ukraine, everywhere as an amateur.”

Another win next week for Taylor would keep Scottish boxing bubbling.

“We are going from strength to strength. Professionally, we have some decent fighters. But I’m really positive about our Commonwealth Games squad.”

For someone with ambitions of becoming a trainer and manager, don’t be surprised if the talent becomes a recruitment pool for Arthur, who himself came through the Commonwealth Games route on his way to world success.

“I’ve been in my gym since January. But I want to be hands on. I want to give something back to boxing, but I also want the buzz of having a big interest in it.”

Explaining Soto’s absence, Blain McGuigan of Cyclone Promotions said: “We were informed that Humberto had sustained a serious cut during a sparring session and that he would not be able to compete. This is professional boxing and unfortunately these things can happen.”

Taylor now has to adjust to a change in opponent.

“It came as a bit of a shock but these things happen,” he said. “I wish Humberto Soto all the best in his recovery but now I’m 100 per cent on Winston Campos.”