GLASGOW, Scotland - Aston Brown can't mask the beaming smile across his face. He did exactly what he'd promised all week, blasting beyond fellow unbeaten middleweight hopeful Reece Porter as if he had somewhere better to be.

It would've been a sweeter night had his friend and compatriot Josh Taylor capped the evening's 12-fight card on May 24 with victory, though the triumphant theme remains unchanged after a second consecutive stoppage victory over previously-unbeaten competition. He wants marquee nights to continue in Scotland and believes, at 34, he's in the right place to help deliver them.

Besides a well-intentioned but slightly awkward exchange with former British champion Nathan Heaney (18-2-1, 6 KOs) on the show's televised undercard portion, the Glasgow native believes that highlight reel performances like this one will position him perfectly for a solid contract under Frank Warren's Queensberry banner.

"I'd love a Queensberry contract, to get some sort of stable deal that puts me in a position to fight big names and for big titles," he told The Ring post-fight.

"Hopefully that's in my future plans, I'll speak to my manager first and see what we can do but I just want big names and nights like this again."

Well-travelled amateur standout Brown (8-0, 3 KOs) made his debut in the paid ranks in October 2015, on a card featuring Taylor's second pro bout and aspiring featherweight contender Josh Pritchard, who turned to coaching after changes in his brain scan forced an early retirement.

He kept it succinct in the ring when forecasting the future after dismantling Porter, but several troubling indiscretions outside the ring could've seen Brown headed for the same fate in very different circumstances.

Imprisoned for 21 months after admitting assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement, among other transgressions in December 2019, he told Boxing News of the mixed emotions he felt upon his release during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Everybody got a shock by the size of me - I was almost 16 stone [101kg] - been hitting the gym, the weights. I went into a phone shop to buy headphones and there were screens up, went to hand over money and the women said we don't accept money. This is all new to me. I had known nowhere in the world not to accept money, she was standing back from me. That coming out day was just unbelievable, a day I'll never forget. I got released and was in a much better place than when I went in."

A quick search online and you'll find articles where Brown's career is deemed one cut short by injury, his defence agent Rhona Lynch saying the now 34-year-old's life had "spiralled out of control" after injuring tendons in his hand against Bulgarian journeyman Giorgi Valevski a decade ago.

He needed surgery and his mental health suffered during an arduous recovery period, one worsened by drug addiction and missing dearly the one constant in his life from his pre-teenage years.

There, you'll also find he had once signed a long-term promotional deal with Frank Warren and was being touted as a flagbearer, alongside Taylor, for Scottish boxing.

"I've had over 130 amateur fights and mixed it with the best in the WSB so it won't take me many fights to be challenging for titles. I'm aiming to be taking on the best domestic middleweight fighters within the next couple of years, hungry for success and want to be pushed on quickly," he said in a press release.

A decade on, expectations have been tempered but aspirations remain the same and there's an acceptance that at his age, time is increasingly of the essence.

"What I've been through in my life, how can I start complaining? This is fun to me, I love this. People get too uptight about boxing sometimes but not me, it's what I enjoy," he continues.

"I've been through hell and back, was given an opportunity to come back into the sport after doing some of the right things, so why would I let that slip by me? I'm going to give it my absolute all until I've achieved what I believe I can and make everybody - family, friends, my fiance and little girl - proud of me in the future when it's all said and done."

He talks passionately about why there was such confidence heading into a Glasgow derby with Porter (5-1, 3 KOs) given the vast gulf in their experience, revealing he'd been given fair notice and knew the younger man's aggressive tendencies would play into his hands.

"I had 12-to-14 weeks prep for Reece and yeah, obviously a bit of time out the ring since last August in Belfast but I'm professional and don't balloon too much in weight.

"I stay in the gym and was ready, so when the phone call came for this, I was in a good position. I'd seen the way he boxes before and knew if he approached me like that, it wouldn't end well. We peaked when we needed to, took training up-and-down depending on how I felt, it was a fantastic training camp and a one-round demolition job to finish so all is good."

With the Scottish Area title draped across his shoulder, he'll now look to parlay a first professional strap into further opportunities and stay active after upsetting Fearghus Quinn (9-1, 3 KOs) with a second-round stoppage win on DAZN prior.

"I'm absolutely buzzing to win this, like you can't believe. I've won multiple of these as an amateur, loads of titles across the world but to have this first one as a professional, it's just the start."