IT'S great to be returning to action at last, and great to be making a bit of boxing history by being the first Welshman to be involved in a world title fight in Scotland.

The Royal Highland Showground showdown with Egyptian challenger to my WBO world super-middleweight title, Kabary Salem, on October 22, is expected to pull in 7, 000-8,000 people.

It should be a terrific occasion and frankly I can't wait after having had so many setbacks and disappointments and not having fought since February.

Apparently, the only Welsh world champion to have fought in Scotland was the great Jimmy Wilde, who won one contest on points in 1911 and another with a 17th-round KO in 1913.

Seventeen rounds, I ask you, and Wilde also had, I understand, over 140 fights, losing just three.

So to be mentioned alongside the famous Mighty Atom is a great honour, and I intend to give the Scots something to savour.

Salem is an opponent not to be underestimated.

He was ripped off in his challenge to Mario Veit in Germany for the then interim WBO super-middleweight crown, the victim of a horrendous home-town decision.

He has fought some good opponents in Antwun Echolls and Ertic Harding, and has never been knocked down or knocked out.

He took Harding the distance and the American has a win over Antonio Tarver to his credit, while Harding also later lost to Tarver and took Roy Jones Junior ten rounds in a title fight, so has quite a pedigree.

So my aim next month will be first to end his record, and I expect to knock him out because I want to put on a good show before hopefully returning to try to win the world light-heavyweight championship.

Apparently, both American pay-to-view TV channels Showtime and HBO are interested in a fight between myself and WBC champion Tarver, and another big performance against Salem should move that closer.

The fight is in Edinbugh - what a beautiful city that is, as I found out earlier this week when I attended for the Press conference - means me equalling Chris Eubank's record of 15 world title defences.

It means a win and another defence would give me another little piece of boxing history, but that's not top of my agenda.

That remains a defining fight with Tarver, Roy Jones Junior or Bernard Hopkins within the next 12 months because time is running out before I start thinking about retirement.

As far as the Salem fight goes, I have been back in full training for the past fortnight and will begin to step up sparring next week.

Danny Williams' tilt at the WBC heavyweight title will give British boxing a boost after the retirement of Lennox Lewis, and he earned it with that spectacular win over Mike Tyson.

I wrote him off for that fight so I am not going to do that again in a hurry, but nevertheless I don't expect him to defeat defending WBC champion Valeri Klitschko.

It will be Klitschko's first defence and so he'll be out to impress.

He is a big, strong fighter, and though I think Williams will give him a decent fight, and he obviously has a puncher's chance, I would have to bet against him again.

But the heavyweight scene is so bereft of decent fighters at the moment that it's difficult to raise much enthusiasm.