BOXING legend Barry McGuigan has tipped county ace Josh Taylor to emulate the success of Carl Frampton.

Northern Irishman McGuigan, himself a former world champion, believes Prestonpans star Taylor has all the attributes to follow in the footsteps of the current WBA featherweight champion.

McGuigan, who is Taylor's trainer, was speaking as the 'Tartan Tornado' promoted his upcoming fight with Dave Ryan for the vacant Commonwealth Super Lightweight championship.

He told Courier Sport: “He has got all the attributes.

“He's got fantastic balance and his power and switching from orthodox to southpaw is incredible.

“He understands it all as well.

“I can't measure him in two rounds of boxing against a journeyman.

“The last fight we thought was going to go eight rounds, but Josh knocked him out in two.

“This guy [Ryan] is tough – it might go eight rounds or it might even go 10, but you will not see one blemish from Josh Taylor in those 10 rounds.

“Don't be surprised if it's over before then.

“He [Ryan] hasn't fought anyone like Josh before – Josh Taylor is 10 leagues above what he's fought before.”

McGuigan also said he was keen to see Taylor fight in a variety of venues across the country, to make him “a Scottish entity.”

He added: “What happened to [Ken] Buchanan and [Jim] Watt was they became one Edinburgh and one Glasgow.

“With the greatest respect to them, we don't want to do that to Josh.

“We want to bring him around – possibly to Glasgow, maybe Gleneagles.

At the press conference, at the Scotsman Hotel in Edinburgh, McGuigan also gave an insight to what the county ace is like outside the ring.

He added: “He is absolutely hilarious – he's one of the best stand-up comedians I've ever heard.

“He's the same age as my boys and they talk in this 'film talk' and it's absolutely hilarious.

“I could write a book out of the WhatsApp conversations we've had, and that's great, because it's important to me that he feels part of the Cyclone family.”