MEXICAN boxing star Miguel Vazquez insists that he is not coming to Scotland to “make up the numbers” when he faces Josh Taylor next month.

The 30-year-old will make the 5,418-mile journey from Guadalajara to challenge Taylor for the WBC Silver super lightweight title at the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston.

He travelled to Edinburgh for a press conference last month, and was quick to stress he would be no pushover.

Vazquez, speaking through a translator, said: “I’m always desperate to win and I’m desperate to claim this victory in Scotland.

“I’m not just coming here to make up the numbers.”

A former IBF world super lightweight champion, Vazquez held the belt for four years and is widely regarded as one of the division’s top stars.

He has never been stopped in his 44-fight career and revealed that preparing properly for fights was the key to his success to date.

Vazquez was under no illusions that the fight against Prestonpans star Taylor would be tough.

“It is going to be difficult, especially because he is a left-hander,” he said.

And Vazquez revealed how it was a lifelong goal to become world champion, which he finally accomplished in 2010 – the same year Taylor, as an amateur, first represented Scotland in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

“When I was born and my father saw my hands, he said to my mother ‘he is going to be a world champion one day’,” he said.

More than three years have passed since he lost the IBF world title, but Vazquez, nicknamed El Títere (The Puppet), has his sights set on a return to the top of the ladder.

He said: “I think I can get to the top again.

“It is my dream to become a world champion again.”

That quest starts on November 11 as El Titere attempts to de-thrown East Lothian’s finest at the Royal Highland Centre.