British southpaw Jack Catterall avenged his sole career defeat against Scotland’s Josh Taylor on Saturday, May 25. The old rivals squared in a rematch live from First Direct Arena in Leeds, England.
The pair first met in February 2022, when then undisputed 140-pound champion Taylor took a controversial split decision. The scheduled for 12 rounds super lightweight rematch also went the full distance. This time around, Catterall secured the win by unanimous decision with the scores 117-111, 117-111 and 116-113.
In addition to the victory, Jack Catterall improved to 29-1, 13 KOs and earned his third win in a row. Post-win, the Chorley, Lancashire native said “we shared 24 hours together, so respect to Josh as well”. When asked if he would to it again, the 30-year-old said it was the question for his promoter Eddie Hearn.
Josh Taylor dropped to 19-2, 13 KOs and suffered his second straight defeat. The 33-year-old southpaw of Edinburgh, Scotland said: “It’s one apiece, let’s do a trilogy”.
Two judges scored nine rounds in favor of Catterall. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said “those scores cards were absolute disgrace”. He also said he believed Taylor won the fight.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said he agreed with Arum, adding that “the cards were much too wide”. Nevertheless, he insisted that Catterall deserved the victory.
As for the third bout between Taylor and Catterall, Hearn said: “The third fight is a big fight, but he deserves to be a world champion.”
In the co-feature on the card, Cheavon Clarke (9-0, 7 KOs) KO’d Ellis Zorro (17-2, 7 KOs) to become a new British cruiserweight champion. The official time was 2 minutes and 59 seconds into the eighth round.
Among other Taylor vs Catterall 2 results, Irish southpaw Paddy Donovan (14-0, 11 KOs) stopped British welterweight Lewis Ritson (23-4, 13 KOs). The time was 32 seconds into the ninth round.