Josh Taylor takes on Ekow Essuman this weekend in his debut at welterweight, but the Scotsman says that even though his goal is to become two-weight world champion, he won't be feeling any pressure to do so as he's already 'completed boxing'.

This Sunday, the day after Taylor's fight with Essuman, will mark a year to the day he last fought in his rematch loss to Jack Catterall. But now the former undisputed 140-pound champion is plotting to become a two-weight titleholder.

Having signed with Queensberry Promotions after taking a year off to mull over his next move and build into a slightly larger frame, Taylor (19-2, 13 KOs) returns to the OVO Hydro in Glasgow to face former British champion Essuman (21-1, 8 KOs) on Saturday night, with the action to be streamed live on DAZN.

Ultimately, the aim for Taylor is to become champion once again. He won his first world title in May 2019, beating Ivan Baranchyk for the IBF junior-welterweight strap, before unifying The Ring and WBA titles against Regis Prograis in the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) final later that year.

Jose Ramirez in Las Vegas was his crowning four-belt moment in May 2022, but since then he's had it tough, dealing with the fallout of a controversial split decision win over Catterall, before losing the rematch after dropping his Ring and WBO titles to Teofimo Lopez in June 2023.

However, having achieved everything he set out to in 2019, Taylor insists the pressure is off, and he now has all the experience and know-how in the world in regards to winning titles.

"As soon as I became world champion, all the pressure was off me," he tells The Ring. "That was my goal, my lifetime goal and ambition was to become a world champion. As soon as I beat Ivan Baranchyk, that was my mission accomplished.

"But me being me and being competitive and being the champion that I am, the champion-minded person that I am, I wanted more. I wanted to become a unified world champion. Then it was the undisputed world champion, which I achieved, which I never thought I ever would achieve.

"So yeah, everything from here on out is a bonus and now I've got goals to become a two-way world champion now. So it's all about setting goals and setting targets, not staying still and staying in the same place. It's always about trying to improve and be better.

"I'm just now all about enjoying it and more desire to go and do what I want to do without the pressure. I've completed boxing in a session, in a sense."

Much has been made of the challenges Essuman, who Taylor knows well from their amateur days on the Team GB squad, will pose the Tartan Tornado.

Some observers are expecting Essuman to bring the heat to Taylor for 12 rounds straight, perfectly encapsulating what his 'Engine' moniker is all about, but Taylor can't see that happening.

"It's the kind of fast-paced fight that I'm expecting," he added.

"Everyone seems to be going on about his engine but I don't think he's as big an engine as he makes out.

"He doesn't fight like he's got a big engine either. But I am expecting a tough fight and I'm prepared for a hard 12 rounds."

Taylor and Essuman looked to be on friendly terms when they met at the announcement press conference earlier this year. The pair smiled, complimented each other and shook hands after a tame 20 minutes of chatter to promote their contest.

Anyone who knows anything about Taylor, however, knows that his demeanour switches on fight week. His nickname 'Hank' derives his likeness to the violent and angry alter-ego Jim Carrey plays in the comedy film 'Me, Myself & Irene'.

The build-up to his fight with Ramirez three years ago, in particular, saw Taylor approach their media duties and weigh-in in a provocative, aggressive manner. Onlookers who were not aware of Taylor's routine fight-week personality switch, came to the conclusion that he'd let his emotions get the better of him.

That assumption was far from the truth, however, as Taylor dropped Ramirez twice en route to a unanimous decision victory to win the undisputed titles at 140 pounds at the Virgin Hotels in Paradise, Nevada.

Taylor expects he'll switch things up and bring fight-mode energy once again this week.

"I'll be in fight mode, that's for sure," he added. "I'll be in fight mode. My character and my personality changes to fighter mode now.

I'll still be respectful and be nice and cordial when I need to be. But yeah I'll be ready to go.

"I wouldn't say we were friendly, but we were on friendly terms and stuff. Respect's always been there between the two of us. We've always had mutual respect.

"We had a couple of good sparring sessions back in the day. But yeah, it's a lot of experience I've had with him, it's been good.

"He's been very, very respectful. He's always been a good guy, we've always got along well. There's no bad blood there at all."