A fight between Josh Taylor 19-0 (13) and Jack Catterall 26-1 (13) without a world title on the line would diminish the value of the contest.
England’s Catterall, 29, lost a contentious split decision to the 32-year-old Taylor in an all-southpaw battle for the Scotsman’s WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF junior welterweight titles one year ago.
Although he retained his undisputed 140-pound championship, Taylor jettisoned the WBC, WBA and IBF belts to skirt around the mandatory defences that came with the belts in favour of pursuing a rematch against Catterall.
Their second bout has failed to come to fruition after a series of unfortunate circumstances have conspired to postpone the bout on a number of occasions. The most recent postponement was due to Taylor suffering a torn plantar fascia tendon in his heel.
With Catterall now expected to take a stay-busy fight in late March, the WBO has ordered Taylor to begin negotiations to face their number one contender, former undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez 18-1 (13).
Bob Arum, who promotes both Taylor and Lopez, explained that if they ignored the WBO’s ruling to pursue the Catterall rematch the champion would be stripped of his title and the fight would have less value.
“Once the WBO ruled that Josh had to fight Teofimo, [we] couldn’t do a title fight [with Catterall],” Arum told iD Boxing.
“The fact that you couldn’t do a title fight, Josh Taylor and Catterall, meant that the value of the fight had diminished.
“So Jack should take another fight and I’m sure the winner of Taylor and Teofimo would be happy to agree to fight Catterall next. That seems like the logical thing to do.
“I know Catterall wants to fight for the title, so that’s what I would propose to him. They do another fight with his promoter, Boxxer, and we would agree, Taylor and Teofimo, that the winner of that fight would fight Catterall.”
Taylor’s return is targeted for late May or early June, leaving plenty of time for the winner to face Catterall before the year is out.
“They’ve ordered me to fight Teofimo Lopez,” Taylor told Sky Sports last week. “It’s one I want to do, it’s the only belt I’ve got left, the WBO, so I want to keep it. If I went and then fought Jack I’d be fighting him with no titles. I want to keep the title. They’re all my belts, but I want to keep this one.
“Further on down the line, Jack and me can still fight. I don’t know what’s going to happen now. I definitely will [but] it’s out of my control, it’s not my fault the WBO got in touch.
“At the end of the day it’s out of my control. This fight [against Lopez] is a much bigger fight than the Catterall fight. It’s a much bigger fight and it’s a harder fight. He is a much higher calibre of opponent. He has been at a higher level. He’s been in with better fighters. He’s done the business and got the t-shirt. I think it’s a better fight.”
