Lee McGregor got a close-up view of Naoya Inoue when the Japanese superstar boxed in Glasgow three years ago and while the Scot believes he is someway off being ready to face Inoue, if he was offered the fight, he would find it hard to turn down. 

McGregor, the European bantamweight champion, returns to the ring on Friday at York Hall in East London when he faces Diego Alberto Ruiz, of Argentina. 

It is his first bout in six months, having had a planned European title defence in December called off at short notice. 

He had expected the first half of this year to be dominated by a rematch with Kash Farooq, but his Scottish rival’s sudden retirement left McGregor setting his sights higher. 

Inoye, the Japanese superstar, is top of the tree at 118 pounds but McGregor sees it as a fight he wants eventually. 

“I probably a bit more time, but there are not many bantamweights out there who would challenge him, and I would just due to my sheer physicality and size,” McGregor said.  

“I do need a good real while to get myself ready for that. I believe I am ready for world level, depending on the champion, but he is the elite of the elite. I’m in no rush with that. Maybe an eliminator might be ideal.  

“But these things can be lifechanging. If a fight like that is going to change mine and my family’s life I am not going to turn it down, I wouldn’t hesitate. 

“I am not stupid or deluded, I have only had 11 fights.  But look at the progress I have made in two years from the Kash fight, so maybe another year or 18 months.” 

McGregor, 25, was on the undercard when Inoue boxed at the Hydro in Glasgow in 2019 in his World Boxing Super Series semi-final against Emmanuel Rodriguez. 

“To see him up close he is a devastating puncher and obviously a very good fighter,” McGregor said. “But I would be in the wrong game if I said I was going to get in the ring and think I was going to lose.  

“I would never think I am going to lose, whoever I get in the ring with and it is no different with him. Although I need a little bit more time to be ready for these massive, massive fights.” 

These days, though, to win a world title dies not mean beating the best in the division and McGregor has hopes of challenging for world honours by the end of this year. 

“Get the next couple of fights out of the way and see where we are,” he said. “The back end of 2022 is when we want to be challenging for world titles and the opportunities might not be at bantamweight, they might be at super-bantam.” 

McGregor, who is now trained by Ben Davison, was looking forward to his rematch with Farooq after getting the nod in a close fight for the British and Commonwealth titles in 2019.

“I’ve learnt so much in those two years,” he said. “I wouldn’t change anything in the lead-up to that fight or during the fight, although it was horrible, dark times, the weight cut is one I would never want to experience again.  

“There is no secret to that. If you see photos of me on the scales you can see it was extremely tough. But I am glad I went through that because it gave me the kick I needed to get more knowledge about nutrition. 

“I wasn’t cutting corners, I was just doing things that I thought were right but were definitely not right.  But I wouldn’t change anything in my life, even when I was young and had some tough times, because they made me who I am today. 

“There is so much more to preparing for fights. Now I have got a great team around me. 

“I’m just in a much, much better position in my life. Since teaming up with Ben, I have not only improved as a fighter, it has made me happier in life and that has helped me in my relationships with my partner and my family. 

“A happy fighter is a dangerous fighter.” 

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.