GLASGOW, Scotland – Ekow Essuman kept his mind firmly on the task at hand on Saturday night by singing Ghanaian songs to himself as he waited in the ring for Josh Taylor to arrive.

The tough Essuman was a slender underdog going in against the accomplished Scot at Glasgow’s packed Hydro Arena.

And the “Tartan Tornado” received a deafening ovation as he made his way to the ring ahead of 12 physical rounds with Essuman, the Nottingham-based Botswanan welterweight who is 22-1 (8 KOs).

But Essuman, waiting for him in the ring, was unfazed.

“I blocked it out,” he told BoxingScene. “I was singing Ghanaian folklore songs to myself.”

Essuman gave himself a B-plus for his performance and stopped short of calling out the names of fighters he wants to face next, saying he only wants to target the belts now.

The WBO, WBC, WBA and IBF titles are respectively held by Brian Norman, Mario Barrios, and the unified champion Jaron Ennis. 

Essuman, 36, has been pursuing the WBO route thus far.

Taylor’s future is far less certain, with the decorated former undisputed junior-welterweight champion falling at the first hurdle at 147lbs.

Yet it started well for Taylor. He was sharp, put his shots together well, and moved nicely early on.

Did Essuman feel him fade, or was the fighter called the “Engine” just coming on strong?

Essuman felt the former, but believed the latter was what won him the fight.

“You could say that [Taylor weakened in the second half] – I felt maybe the first three he was popping off certain cute short, sharp shots, but then after that, I came into the fight,” he explained. “But I always come into the fight, except for the Ben Vaughan fight [which he won by majority decision]. I started off fast that fight, but I wouldn’t mind if you said it was a fight of two halves. But in most fights, I enjoy the fight as the fight matures and it was just like any other fight in that sense.”
Throughout the fight, Essuman kept chipping away – and succeeding – with right hands. He landed short rights that didn’t travel far, and looping rights that sent the sweat flying off the 34-year-old Taylor’s head.

“I was surprised that they were getting to him as much as they did,” Essuman revealed. “I thought that he would be able to take more. Some of them knocked his head back, and I thought, ‘I didn’t think that would’, but it is what it is.”

Essuman was rightly celebrated for his work ethic; he has never looked better. It was a close, hard fight, and on enemy territory – when it went to the scorecards – Essuman was concerned that the decision might not go his way. 

“Obviously with the Jack Catterall fight with Josh Taylor before there was some controversy before, so there was always some lingering doubts in my head,” he admitted.

But then they announced his name – that he had won by margins of 116-113, 116-112 and 115-113 – and that he was step closer to his world-title dream.

“It was good,” he smiled. “It was like everybody could see the work I did.”