LEE McGregor admits he will be back in the gym tomorrow to prepare for Las Vegas after becoming European champion with a devastating knockout of Karim Guerfi on Friday.
The Edinburgh-born bantamweight added the continental crown to his British and Commonwealth belts in only his 10th bout.
McGregor stopped the Frenchman inside the first round after leaving Guerfi floored three times.
The 24-year-old is now expected to fight on the undercard of friend and stablemate Josh Taylor’s super light undisputed bout with Jose Ramirez in America on May 22.
And despite having had no break since he entered camp last September, McGregor has no qualms about returning to training immediately.
“I have a completely different mindset now, a proper professional now," he said. “I’ll have a little celebration but normally in the next couple of weeks I would go away, eat crap and balloon up in weight, have a few drinks and just do stupid stuff.
“I’m not going to do that, I’m loving my life and loving boxing. Monday I’ll be back training. I’ve sacrificed a helluva lot and been training for this since September.
“I would not mind a little break but you can’t turn down opportunity to go over to Vegas and fight on the undercard of your best mate’s undisputed fight, there is no way I wouldn’t do that.
READ MORE: Lee McGregor dethrones Karim Guerfi to become European batamweight champion
“I can’t wait to get back into camp and push him on because he did that with me. We are always pushing each other on and challenging each other in all the sprints.
“I’ll get my good break after that one, perfect time for the summer everything opening back up.”
A rematch with Kash Farooq could also be on the cards this year but McGregor believes he could soon by competing for world titles.
“Ben Davison is the best trainer in Britain, I can’t get over how much MTK [promoters] have improved me and I’m really excited how good I can be in eight months, I think I could potentially be fighting for a world title in eight months," he said, speaking to IFL TV. "I'm not scared to take on any challenges. I’ll get in there and fight my heart out.”
McGregor, however, admits he would not rush into any fight with "The Monster" Naoya Inoue, the undefeated holder of the WBA and IBF titles.
“He’s the man, he’s the man," he said. "I’m not ready for him yet but the mentality I’ve got, the way I train, the way I’m improving, if he is still there in 12 months and I’m in that position, I’m not going to not fight him.
“That is life changing stuff financially, for my life, everything. I’m not scared to take on any challenge but I’m not stupid at the same time.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here