MTK Global saddened by angry reactions to Taylor-Catterall result
MTK Global released this message in the aftermath of the Taylor-Catterall fight:
"Following the Josh Taylor vs. Jack Catterall fight on Saturday, MTK Global is saddened and deeply concerned to learn of insults, personal attacks and even death threats targeting the fighters, their partners and their families. This has to stop immediately.
Boxing has always been a sport that unites communities and supports one another and regardless of Saturday night’s outcome, both Josh and Jack respect each other as men, as athletes and as fans of the sport they have dedicated their lives to. Not only have they endured sacrifice and gruelling training camps away from their families and partners in the lead up to this bout, but their families have sacrificed for the sport too and we ask the public, and the boxing community to respect that and offer their support instead of fuelling an already extremely emotional situation.
We ask you to remember that, no matter what the fighters, their teams, their peers, or fight fans believe the result should have been, the decision was not in their hands, but lay in the hands of judging officials and it is our understanding the British Boxing Board of Control are now conducting their own investigation, which we fully encourage.
We have always been honoured to work with both Josh and Jack and are immensely proud of all that they have achieved over the years, both entering the ring as undefeated fighters and showing the world what home grown talent Scotland and England have to offer, and the fans who flocked in their droves to witness the very first UK unification fight in the history of boxing.
MTK Global has always been a family and we ask you to support our family and their families as they look forward to what we know is going to be an incredible rematch in the very near future."
Last Saturday evening at OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Josh Taylor defeated Jack Catterall by split decision (114-111, 113-112, 112-113) to retain his status as the undisputed super lightweight champion, but fight stats show the challenger landed 166 punches to Taylor's 85, in a fight which hardly anyone had the champion winning.
As such, the reactions to the scoring have been met with anger, shock and sadness from the world of boxing. Catterall immediately left the arena, devastated by the outright robbery, but his trainer, Jamie Moore, spoke on his behalf after the fight, "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."
Jack managed to make a statement the morning after, "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."
BOXXER promoter Ben Shalom was also left fuming, "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." More reactions…
The BBBofC have issued a statement to say they will be investigating the scoring to the fight.
BBN Editor, Tim Rickson, added, "I'm upset to hear the fighters have been targeted personally after they both did their jobs in the ring. They are not scoring the fight; they are going into the ring, under those lights, and doing what they have trained so hard to do. Nothing more should be asked of them.
"The reaction to this result was quite unusual to other upsets in the past and I think that's because a lot of people have had enough of this corruption now. I'm glad the BBBofC are investigating it, but leave the fighters alone to recover from all that sacrifice over the past few months to spend some much needed time alone with their families and friends. After all they've been through, they should be allowed to switch off from boxing and concentrate on themselves and their loved ones."
HÖRFA are proud sponsors of British Boxing News