BOXING ace Josh Taylor was in confident mood at a press conference this afternoon, ahead his first professional title fight on Friday.

Taylor will fight for the vacant Commonwealth super lightweight title against England's Dave Ryan.

The Prestonpans ace laughed off claims from Ryan's trainer Clifton Mitchell that the Derby man would "drown" him at the Meadowbank Arena.

At today's press conference, Mitchell said, of Josh: "He's only been in the ring with boys - he's fighting a man on Friday."

And he dismissed the hype surrounding the county boxer, claiming Mitchell has been "completely written off", adding: "I don't even know why we've bothered coming - Dave is just going to lie down and give him the title by the sounds of things."

Those claims were met with a heated response from Barry McGuigan, who runs Taylor's stable Cyclone Promotions. 

However county ace Josh kept his cool and was less concerned about Mitchell's digs.

He said: "It's not him fighting at the end of the day and Dave didn't have much to say.

"That's just the way he [Mitchell] is - it doesn't bother me at all."

Taylor's fight is being shown live on Channel 5, and gets under way about 10.15pm.