Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall


Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall was a professional boxing match contested between undisputed light welterweight champion, Josh Taylor, and the WBO's mandatory challenger, Jack Catterall. The event took place on 26 February 2022, at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow. Taylor's split decision victory was controversial, with the British Boxing Board of Control launching an investigation into the scoring in the aftermath of the fight.

Background

In January 2019, Catterall was installed as the number one challenger to WBO champion Maurice Hooker. After Hooker lost his title in a unification fight against WBC champion José Ramírez in July, the WBO ordered Ramírez to face Catterall in a mandatory defence. However, the WBC also ordered Ramírez to face their mandatory challenger, Viktor Postol. Ramírez chose to fight Postol with the agreement that the winner face Catterall next. Less than 48 hours after Ramírez defeated Postol in August 2020, he was again ordered to face Catterall next. In October, Catterall had confirmed that he agreed to a "step-aside" deal to allow Ramírez to face unified WBA (Super), IBF, and The Ring champion, Josh Taylor, for the undisputed light-welterweight title, again with the agreement that Catterall face the winner next.
Taylor defeated Ramírez via unanimous decision on 22 May 2021. Days after his victory, Taylor said of Catterall, "Jack Catterall was decent enough to let me do this fight first. He's been mandatory for some time. He agreed to step aside to let this fight happen. You can see his point, there's method in his madness. If that fight's next, he's got the chance to become undisputed champion. He's made a good choice."
In August, ESPN reported that terms had been agreed between Taylor and Catterall to meet on 18 December at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow. It was announced by Taylor on 21 October that he had suffered an injury, and thus the fight would be postponed to 26 February 2022.
A few details on the undercard were announced late January which included a ten round bout between Robeisy Ramirez and Eric Donovan. Kieran Molloy, a recent new signing by Top Rank, would face Damian Esquisabel in his professional debut fight.

The fight

Despite being knocked down by Catterall in the eighth round and being seemingly outboxed by the challenger, Taylor won a controversial split decision victory, with scores of 114–111 and 113–112 in his favour, and 113–112 in favour of Catterall. According to CompuBox, Catterall landed more punches than Taylor in 11 out of 12 rounds. The challenger landed 120 of 525 total punches, with Taylor throwing and landing far fewer in comparison: 73 of 306 overall.

Aftermath

Former world cruiserweight champion and pundit Johnny Nelson stated, "It's decisions like this which turn casual fans off. Josh Taylor did not win that fight." The decision was labelled as "the biggest robbery in British boxing history". Irish bookmaker Paddy Power stated that they would be refunding all stakes placed by their customers on Catterall to win the bout, as it "was an absolute robbery". Despite the widespread public opinion, Taylor was defiant in his post-fight interview, saying, "I don't think there is any need for a rematch... I know I won the fight."

Rematch

A rematch between Taylor and Catterall was scheduled to take place at the First Direct Arena in Leeds on 18 May 2024. Catterall got revenge in a hard fought battle, winning via unanimous decision. Following which, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum called the scorecards for the rematch a disgrace and threatened to prevent American fighters under his stable from fighting in the UK in future.