Junior welterweight contender Jack ‘El Gato’ Catterall 29-1 (13) got his revenge against Josh ‘The Tartan Tornado’ Taylor 19-2 (13) with a hard-fought unanimous decision victory at First Direct Arena in Leeds, England on Saturday night.
The rematch was more than two years in the making. In their first fight in February 2022, Taylor had to climb off the canvas in the eighth to clinch a split decision win by scores of 112-113, 114-111 and 113-112.
Many fans and pundits thought Catterall deserved the nod.
This time around, there were no complaints about the result. England’s Catterall, 30, got the better of the 33-year-old Taylor in the first half of their all-southpaw bout and did enough in the later round to secure the win by scores of 117-111 twice and 116-113.
Catterall was the busier boxer through six rounds, using every trick in the book to prevent former undisputed 140-pound champion Taylor from settling into any type of rhythm. Even when the pace slowed in spot, he was able to catch Taylor with flashy combinations to the body and head.
After six rounds the judges had Catterall up by near shutout. Judge Kieren McCann saw it as a clean sweep, while judge Mark Bates only gave Taylor the third. Judge Lee Every had Catterall winning the first five heats with the sixth tabbed as even.
Taylor turned the table in seventh, visibly hurting Catterall and continued his attack in the eighth. The next two rounds were close until Taylor walked into a monster left cross from Catterall that clearly stunned him.
Any suspicion that Catterall would fade late proved to be unfounded. He was the better man in the penultimate round and arguably won the final session.
When the final bell rang and the cards were announced, Catterall was ecstatic.
“This time it was more conclusive,” he said. “It was a long wait last time, but I knew I’d done it.”
As for the future?
“Big fights,” Catterall said. “With respect to Josh, he had his extra weeks and we wanted Josh at his best and that’s what we got.”
Catterall, who is ranked now lower than sixth by the four major sanctioning bodies, still believes he was jobbed in the first fight and was relieved to put the Taylor saga behind him.
“It is bittersweet tonight,” he said in the changerooms after the bout. “No world titles but I won the fight and I can close that chapter with Josh Taylor.
“I took more risks this time.”
As for Taylor, he thinks their 1-1 series deserves a trilogy bout.
“It was a great fight. Fair play to Jack, it was a better fight than the first fight. But listen, I thought I just nicked the fight, to be fair,” Taylor said.
“It was a close fight but given the controversy in the first fight, I think it played into the judges hands.
“But fair play to Jack, he won the fight. Let’s do a third one.”
