Undisputed junior welterweight champion Josh ‘The Tartan Tornado’ Taylor 19-0 (13) has admitted he would like a rematch with Jack ‘El Gato’ Catterall 26-1 (13) following his disputed victory at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland on February 26.
The 31-year-old Scottish southpaw was making the first defence of all four major world titles he unified against Jose Carlos Ramirez last May.
In a somewhat scrappy affair, fellow lefty Catterall of England pressed the action while Taylor struggled to find his groove. The champion came on a little in the back half of the fight but the consensus opinion among fans and pundits was that the challenger deserved the nod.
Judge Howard Foster agreed, awarding the fight to the 28-year-old Catterall by a one-point margin of 113-112. His card was overruled by judges Ian John-Lewis and Victor Loughlin, who scored the fight for Taylor 114-111 and 113-112 respectively.
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) has announced an investigation into the scoring of the bout.
The 5-foot-10 Taylor has previously spoken about a potential move up to the marquee welterweight division where big fights await.
In an interview with Sky Sports News, Taylor said he was open to a rematch.
“Of course, I think he deserves it,” he said. “We’ll see what happens down the line – we can have a fight again with Jack, why not. I’m certainly open to it, so we’ll see what happens.
“Most likely at a catchweight. I can’t make the weight anymore safely, I don’t think. So we’ll see how it goes, but I’m keen for a rematch.”
Catterall’s trainer Jamie Moore is hoping that the BBBofC investigation will result in a mandate for a rematch. If Taylor moves up in weight, they will lobby the sanctioning bodies for an immediate title shot.
“In an ideal world, if the right thing could be done and there was an independent inquiry into it, you’d like to think that the decision could be overturned, but that’s not going to happen,” Moore told Sky Sports News.
“So the best scenario we feel is that they could enforce the rematch, whether that would take place I don’t know.
“My gut feeling is that Josh would then move up to 147 – he did look tight at the weight – and then Jack gets his opportunity to fight for the vacant titles.
“But he’s only mandatory for the WBO, so in itself then lies a problem. You’d like to think that all the governing bodies would then decide that Jack was hard done by, it was a very controversial decision, and let him fight for all the belts.
“Politically, they’ve not always worked in sync with each other, the governing bodies, but you’d like to think that in a situation like this, where the vast majority of the boxing world are all reading off the same page, that would happen.”
