Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall round by round results
Josh Taylor controversially held onto his Undisputed World Super-Lightweight titles against Jack Catterall by split decision last night at the OVO Hydro, Glasgow, in a fight that all of the boxing World felt that the Englishman had clearly won.
Edinburgh’s Taylor was making the historic first defence of his WBO, WBA, IBF and WBC World titles on home soil at sold out OVO Hydro in front of a crowd of over 12,000, while unbeaten Catterall – who had not faced anyone in Taylor’s class – was the underdog going in.
The atmosphere was electric as the home fans turned out for Taylor, but Catterall surprised everyone by outboxing, flooring and then cutting Taylor in the championship contest and it looked that there was going to be a massive upset on the cards.
The Scorecards
Ian John-Lewis was the judge who returned the most bizarre scoring of the fight with Taylor winning 114-111. Lewis only had 'El Gato' winning the first, fifth, sixth and eighth rounds.
Howard Foster was the only judge to score the fight to the challenger, Catterall. He had him winning rounds one, four, five, six, eight and 12.
The Punch Stats
Taylor
Thrown: 255
Landed: 85
Success Rate: 33%
Catterall
Thrown: 357
Landed: 166
Success Rate: 46%
The Fight
The action was messy throughout the fight with a lot of holding and referee Marcus McDonnell had to work hard all night separating and warning the pair, even deducting points from both fighters.
In the opening round, southpaw Catterall got to work quicker landing his stiff jabs and Taylor and was rocked with a big left hand and the Scotsman was already getting frustrated.
In the 3rd, Taylor, also a southpaw, landed a sold hook while Catterall worked away with some sharp combinations.
Taylor looked to force himself on Catterall in the 4th but Catterall landed his own better punches at the end of the round.
Catterall landed a cracking three punch combination in the 5th and Taylor was showing his frustrations as a nasty cut under his right eye opened up.
In the 6th and 7th rounds Catterall was boxing well with his shots getting through and at this stage it was felt that Catterall was ahead on points.
Then in the 8th round the biggest crisis of Taylor’s career saw him floored for the first time from a big left from Catterall and the champion looked in trouble but rose from the count and continued.
The fight got messier from the 9th as they clashed heads and Catterall was holding, the referee then deducted a point from Catterall in the 10th.
Taylor then looked to press the fight in the 11th and end the last two rounds strongly, but Catterall was moving well and jabbing and Taylor was deducted a point for punching after the bell.
The last round saw Taylor landing a good left hand as looked for a final push but it seemed to be too late.
Both fighters raised their hands at the end and now it was down to the judges scorecards. Howard Foster gave it to Catterall 113-112, while Ian John Lewis and Victor Loughlin both gave it to Taylor 114-111 and 113-112 respectively.
Whilst the decision was met with delight from Taylor’s fans in the arena, it led to widespread disbelief by media at ringside, TV commentators and then on social media who clearly felt that Catterall was the winner.
Shocked by the result, Catterall immediately left the ring. While Taylor’s record and Unified World titles remain in tact, he acknowledged his performance ‘wasn’t my best’ and still maintained that he won by saying: “I know I won the fight”.
The Reactions
Taylor: "I started a little slow, but once I grabbed the momentum, I started catching him with the bigger shots. He was trying to spoil a lot. Going down and up a lot and clashing my head. He caught me with a couple of good shots. I’m not gonna lie to you. It wasn’t my best performance. I put a lot of pressure on myself with it being my homecoming. Been three years, first time since lockdown and all that. I put a lot of pressure on myself being the heavy favorite and it showed in the first half of the fight.
"Once I got my rhythm I started catching him with the bigger shots and catching him and catching him. It wasn’t my best performance, but I believe I got the win 100 percent. But Jack did very well.
"I put a lot of pressure on myself to put on a good show for my home fans. But it didn’t matter in the end. I got the good result.
"I knew I won the fight. It was close. Overall I scored the bigger shots, the better shots, the more meaningful shots so I know I won the fight. It was a little bit close, but I know I won the fight."
Catterall: "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. 15 months out the ring, they all wrote me off. F***ed 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. Dreams stolen."
Ben Shalom: "I love this sport and we try to keep our integrity, but tonight is really difficult. That's heartbreaking for Jack. I’m not just embarrassed, I’m really angry."
Jamie Moore: "It's difficult to put into words. You're talking about a kid that's worked all his life to wait for that moment. He stepped aside to allow Taylor to become unified champion. He performs like that beats the champion in his own back yard and gets robbed. It's disgusting. I don;t know what to say."
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