Jack Catterall On Controversial Decision Loss- “Gave Him Lesson”
It was a controversial night in Glasgow, Scotland, as country hero and Undisputed Jr. Welterweight champ Josh Taylor escaped with a 12 round spilt decision win over England’s Jack Catterall. And, the contender finally spoke out early Sunday about coming so close to pulling a massive upset only to be passed over by two judges scorecards.
Catterall posted on Instagram in his first post-fight comments after losing to the unbeaten Scot, Taylor in the Sky Sports/Top Rank Boxing main event Saturday night,
“You know what hurts the most, it wasn’t for me I done all of this for my family my team my town and country. My baby girl and misses, our future. Today I should of been waking up with all of the belts,” Catterall wrote.
“15 months out the ring, they all wrote me off. Fucked me in every way possible for over two years, finally got the fight. Sacrificed everything to fight one of the top p4p ranked fighters, gave him a lesson. For what. Boxing shame on you. Judges 🖕🏽Dreams stolen 💔 “
As we wrote Saturday night, the heavily favored Taylor had returned to his home country to defend the WBA/IBF/WBC and WBO World titles against the 14-1 underdog Catterall. However, he got much more than he bargained for from the beginning of the bout.
Catterall controlled the fight throughout scoring with straight lefts and body shots, and he eventually scored the only knocked out of the bout. That came with two hard overhand lefts that dropped Taylor onto all fours in the eighth round stunning the crowd.
However, Taylor wasn’t seriously hurt and continued to press forward in the final rounds trying rally and to land his own straight lefts out of the southpaw stance.
Controversy then became part of the finish. This, as in the 10th round when referee Marcus McDonnell, who spent most of the fight interjecting himself and warning the fighters, finally took a point away from Catterall for holding and hitting the champ. And, obviously, that point would end up being huge for the ultimate outcome.
In another bizarre moment, the ref later took a point away from Taylor at the end of the 11th round for throwing a jab punch just after the bell at Catterall’s midsection. That deduction made the final decision more dramatic.
The official cards were 113-112 on two of them for the champ and 114-11 for English challenger.
Big Fight weekend had the fight 114-111 also for Catterall with the knockdown , plus each fighter getting the official point deduction.
Taylor, now 19-0, 13 KOs, got the nod despite being out-landed by Catterall 120-73 in total punches in the fight. That means the champion got the decision, while being knocked down, and while only landing on average 6 punches a round. Catterall also cut the champion on the outside of the right eye and eventually, Taylor suffered a significant gash under the right eye as well.
As for a possible rematch, Taylor told Sky Sports after the bout that he thought he won and that intends to move up in weight to 147 lbs. in the future.
While that’s possibly the best move for Taylor, who struggled to make weight for this defense, it leaves a void for the formerly 26-0 Catterall.
No satisfaction in the decision and possibly, no second chance at Taylor, either.
A veteran broadcaster of over 25 years, T.J. has been a fight fan longer than that! He’s the host of the “Big Fight Weekend” podcast and will go “toe to toe” with anyone who thinks that Marvin Hagler beat Sugar Ray Leonard or that Tyson, Lennox Lewis or Deontay Wilder could have beaten Ali!
