No longer lost in the wilderness following his defeat to Jack Catterall last summer, Josh Taylor returns to action this spring in his debut fight at welterweight.

Taylor will face former British champion Ekow Essuman live on DAZN in May, with a specific date yet to be confirmed.

The former undisputed junior-welterweight champion lost to Catterall on points in a bitter grudge rematch last summer on a Matchroom bill in Leeds.

Taylor struggled in his first fight with Catterall in February 2022 too, controversially leaving Glasgow's OVO Hydro with a split decision victory, having survived an eighth-round knockdown.

The 'Tartan Tornado' has also had to bounce back from a June 2023 defeat to Teofimo Lopez, losing his remaining WBO and Ring 140-pound belts in the process, having vacated his WBC, IBF and WBA straps.

Before that, Taylor asserted himself as one of the pound-for-pound fighters in the world, winning the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) in 2019 to unify the WBA, IBF and Ring titles in his final bout with Regis Prograis.

He cemented undisputed status with a Las Vegas decision win over Jose Ramirez in 2021.

With all of that in the past, however, Taylor enters the Indian summer of his career, signing a promotional contract with Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions.

Essuman is a former British and Commonwealth champion at 147 pounds, and currently holds a world No. 5 ranking with the WBO.

Brian Norman Jr. is the current WBO champion, having knocked out Giovanni Santillan in their title bout back in May 2024. Norman Jr. will make his return to the ring on the Mikaela Mayer-Sandy Ryan card on March 29 in Las Vegas.

A win over Essuman would put Taylor right back in the conversation in terms of his world ranking, but whether or not the Prestonpans man can return to the top of the sport remains to be seen.

Also on the card, Edinburgh’s Lee McGregor (15-1-1, 11KOs) will come up against fellow Scot Nathaniel Collins (15-0).

Elsewhere on DAZN's spring schedule of fights is a headlining bout between Joe Joyce and Dillian Whyte on April 5th at Manchester's Co-Op Live Arena.

In another May fight Leigh Wood (28-3, 17 KOs) clashes with Anthony Cacace (23-1, 8KOs) for the Northern Irishman's IBO belt at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham.

Frank Warren said: “We’ve assembled a bumper lineup of cracking fights to celebrate the start of our relationship with DAZN,” Frank Warren.

“We are starting as we mean to go on and, as you might expect, the heavyweights will play a big, big part in 2025 and beyond. Then Nottingham is the place to be the following month for a real banger of a fight between Anto Cacace and Leigh Wood. It is the sort of domestic blockbuster we will be seeing plenty of across the partnership between Queensberry and DAZN.

"I am also so much looking forward to returning to Scotland with the nation’s biggest star and our latest signing, Josh Taylor, headlining and rebooting his career at welterweight, where I believe he can again do big things, but he will be up against it with Ekow Essuman in the opposite corner.”