Connect with us

Boxing

Jack Catterall says Josh Taylor has already ‘hit the ceiling’

Published

on

With the grudge match days to come, Jack Catterall is still being asked by the general public about his fight in Leeds on Saturday night against Josh Taylor, but they are not asking whether he can win.

Catterall was unlucky to lose a controversial decision to Taylor when they met in February 2022 in Glasgow in a fight for the unified super lightweight crown. It was a close fight, but many believed Catterall would raise his hand at the end of the 12 rounds.

Since then, the comeback has been turned on and off several times. It was most recently scheduled to take place last month, but Taylor had to heal an eye injury and the fight was postponed again to Saturday (May 25).

“The most common question I get is: I left a commercial gym this morning and a guy said to me, ‘Content birthday, but I don’t think that’s going to happen,’” Catterall smiled. “I said, ‘I sure as hell hope so.’ It’s only a few days.

“People are not sure if Josh will make it to the ring. That’s what they ask me. Even with as many tickets as we have made, so many people come out to support and people still ask, “Is Josh going to show up?” So I hope so.

The First Direct Arena in Leeds sold out with a capacity of 11,000. This time it’s probably a bigger fight with no titles on the line and such is the interest in their grudge. This has ramifications at 140 pounds internationally, but neither Taylor nor Catterall will look beyond themselves. Catterall believes the fight has gained momentum over time.

“We boxed for the first time, it was my first chance to fight for a world title, undisputedly fight for all four belts, but then you look at the last two years, the interactions we’ve had with each other and I guess Josh will be the same regardless where I go, up and down the country, if I’m abroad, they stop me and ask about Josh. So I knew there was a demand for this fight.

“It’s a huge fight for both of us. Are there other fights there? Of course it exists. He sells out arenas in the UK, which not many people do, and it’s a huge fight in the country.”

Catterall always wanted a rematch. He felt bad before, but Taylor wanted to move on to bigger and better things. And when they initially failed to secure a rematch, Taylor boxed Teofimo Lopez at Madison Square Garden in Modern York and lost for the first time in his career.

Catterall admits there were times when he didn’t think they would box again.

“Yes, a few times,” Catterall said. “We had an appointment last year, six weeks before the fight, the day before the announcement, but it was canceled. A few weeks ago we had a four-week delay. Last year he left and boxed Lopez after stating he wanted a rematch and it was his last fight at 140 pounds, then vacated three of his four belts to then retain his WBO title and fight Lopez. None of this made sense.

“There were times when I thought about it, but it was a fight that the audience, the boxing fans, demanded. It kept being talked about, so part of me clung to it and thought, “You know what? I think we will win this fight.”

And while Taylor was doing his thing, Catterall was taking victories over Darragh Foley and Jorge Linares and plotting his own route to the top without having to go through Scotland.

“Just before we went into the final stages of negotiations, we became an eliminator with Richardson Hitchins, there was talk about that fight, but we were already deep in negotiations for the Josh fight, so it was put aside, but they are the fights that have been talked about so much, that were going to put me back in position to fight for the world title,” Catterall said.

The Chorley man was an interested observer when Taylor fought Teo last June.

“Delicate,” he said when asked to describe Taylor’s performance. “I did interviews before the fight and I chose Josh to win this fight based on Teofimo’s behavior before the fight. [erratically]he wasn’t there emotionally, but he proved us wrong.

“I thought he was [Taylor] he looked “shot”. After three or four rounds, his legs were gone. He consistently lost strength throughout the fight. He couldn’t judge the distance and I thought Teo was his equal.

And while Catterall says he’s preparing for the best Taylor, he doesn’t think the Scottish star will be able to return to the top after unifying the 140-pound weight class by scalping Jose Ramirez and Regis Prograis.

“I said it and I believe it, I think Josh has hit the ceiling and I’m not wrong, I’m preparing for the Josh who beat Ramirez, who was in form, ran through the division and won all the titles, that’s the Josh I expect during fight night,” Catterall said. “But on the other hand, I think he’s had a lot of tough fights, he’s a few years older than me and I feel like he’s hit the ceiling.”

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Boxing

Tsotne Rogova wins The Heartbeat of LA Boxing series and wins the WBC title

Published

on

Toro Promotions, Inc. launched its up-to-date boxing competition series, “The Heartbeat of LA Boxing,” last night at Pacific Palms Resort, which has been a huge success. The undefeated Tsotne “Mr. T” Rogova (10-0, 7 KO) won the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) United States heavyweight title, headlining an event that featured six professional debutants, including the renowned Walnut (California) High School student. Paolo “Pow” Barredo.

“This was definitely Southern California boxing at its best,” Toro promoter Azat Torosyan said after the fights. “You have to see a lot of shows to find a good one like tonight.”

In the co-main event, Rogova faced a tough challenge from Alexander “The Great” Flores (19-5-1, 17 KOs) before winning a 10-round unanimous decision in an action-packed bout. Rogova, a 2020 Ukrainian Olympian, dominated early after a second-round knockdown of Flores, who rebounded in the middle round before Rogova regained control.

Barredo, who celebrated his 18th birthday last week, faced featherweight Mychaquell “Myche” Shields (2-6), defeating him in the third round and earning a fourth-round stoppage. Barredo, the 2021 Junior Olympic champion, impressed in his professional debut.

Another great debut was made by Alexandro “El Capitan” Alvarado (1-0, 1 KO) of La Puente, who defeated Eduardo Mondragon “El Azteca” Lopez in the lightweight category. Alvarado, the 2021 California State Silver Gloves silver medalist, showed his potential after a third-round stoppage.

Other results included junior welterweight Sonny “The Bear” Robledo (10-0, 3 KO) maintaining his undefeated record with a six-round unanimous decision victory over Matt Gaver (3-10-2, 1 KO) and Hector Oros ( 1-0) rebounded from an early knockdown to defeat Alexander Robles (0-1) in a nearly four-round unanimous decision in the junior bantamweight division.

Riverside’s Oscar Trujillo Enriquez (1-0, 1 KO) made a memorable professional debut, defeating Jesse “Suavecito” Zuniga (0-1) in the second round with a devastating body shot. The action-packed evening ended with Santa Ana’s Michael “Chamuco” Bracamontes (10-2-1, 5 KO) narrowly defeating Los Angeles’ Arsen Poghosyan (3-3-1, 2 KO) by majority decision in a competitive junior weight bout featherlight .

The gala began with Mongolian flyweight champion Enkhmandakh “Machine Gun Magi” Khurkuu (4-0, 1 KO) defeating Richard Morales (1-8, 0 KO) from Westminster, Colorado, in the first round.

Continue Reading

Boxing

“Eddie Hearn is a counterfeit” – Ryan Garcia

Published

on

Image: "Eddie Hearn Is a Fake" - Ryan Garcia

Ryan Garcia has blasted promoter Eddie Hearn, saying he’s a “counterfeit” because he “turned his back” on Devin Haney after losing to him on April 20. Garcia believes Matchroom promoter Hearn is “counterfeit” for abandoning Haney (31-0, 15 KO) after he was defeated. He thinks this is low.

Ryan didn’t like how Hearn said he was seeded and was looking for a fight with Haney in the ring. He doesn’t understand how he would have managed not to look like he was “crazy” if he had been able to dominate Haney the way he did at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Modern York.

“Eddie Hearn said, ‘Ryan Garcia looked crazy in the ring before the fight.’ You can watch the fight, stupid,” Ryan Garcia said social mediatalking about his fight with Devin Haney on April 20. “I was literally normal.”

To be sincere, Ryan looked a little nervous in the lead-up to the Haney fight, but in the ring during the fight. He was 100% committed during the fight itself, which we saw clearly from the way he rocked Haney with a left hook to the jaw in the first round. Haney never recovered from Ryan’s lightning-quick shot.

“If I had been spaced out like that in the ring, how would I have managed to land a perfect counter left hook in front of his jaw? You stupid Eddie Hearn. You stupid idiot. “Oh, Ryan was pissed in the ring.” I’m fed up with Eddie Hearn. This guy is a fraud,” Garcis said.

Ryan shouldn’t take Hearn seriously as he could just be flapping his gums to have something to talk about as his former player Haney was really overworked. All the demanding work Hearn put into him was wasted.

After this loss, you could understand why Hearn wanted to leave the sinking ship Haney before it sank. It is useless now. Haney’s career has hit rock bottom and won’t be resurfaced with Hearn’s facilitate.

He won’t want to sign a contract with Haney and then make a costly and time-consuming transaction rebuild work on him, which could take two years and involve four or five confidence builders. Haney isn’t a huge enough attraction.

“You have to question what Eddie Hearn said. He said: “I looked at Ryan and he was really in bad shape.” I had a six pack and was ready to go. I came demanding. I drank a lot of fluids and ate a lot. I don’t usually do this.

“I don’t know how he gains so much weight. His weight went from 140 to 158. I was 156. Eddie Hearn said: “He was shaking and looking everywhere.” No, I wasn’t. Watch the fight. I wasn’t broken. How can I fight so broken?” Garcia said.

Many fans wonder how Haney gains so much weight after rehydrating after fights, but weight manipulation in sports requires policies to prevent this from happening. On fight night, weights should be additionally checked to ensure that fighters do not hydrate more than 5 pounds, as it is risky to have someone hydrate more than 20 pounds and employ their size to win. This is not only unfair, but can endanger the lives of opponents.

“If you’re really drugged, how can you fight in front of millions of people and fight for 12 rounds? These people are stupid. I’d like to see Eddie Hearn and say, “Are you stupid?” Your fighter wasn’t fighting well and wasn’t even your fighter at the time. And when he was beaten, you turned your back on him. You are a counterfeit cheater. Fuck you, Eddie Hearn,” Garcia said.

All that acting that Ryan did to make Haney think he was crazy may have also fooled Hearn into thinking he was out of his mind. Many people believed that Garcia was either showing signs of early schizophrenia or was under the influence of drugs.

“Forget you, Eddie Hearn, for trying to create the narrative I had in mind before the fight. You’re just an idiot. It’s a curse for him because you tried to lie to me so many times. Now look at your promotion,” Ryan said.

Again, we don’t know what Hearn’s purpose in the conversation was, as he may have been trying to generate interest in the fight by telling some elevated tales.

Continue Reading

Boxing

Daniyar Yeleussinov submits Joe Noynay twice and scores in round five in Kazakhstan

Published

on

Daniyar Yeleussinov celebrates his victory over Zoltan Szabo during their super welterweight fight at York Hall in London. (Image: Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)

by Francisco Salazar |

Daniyar Yeleussinov returned to fighting after a long break and hopes to be successful in a modern weight class.

Yeleussinov stopped Joe Noynay twice, winning by fifth-round knockout on Saturday night at the Almaty Arena in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Yeleussinov improved his record to 12-0, 7 by knockout.

Southern midfielder Yeleussinov was acute from the opening bell. About 30 seconds before the end of the first round, a left to the body sent Noynay to one knee. Noynay managed to defeat the enumerator and get out of the round.

Less than a minute into the fourth round, a series of punches, including left hands to the head and body, knocked Noynay to the canvas. Noynay got down on both knees but beat the count given by referee Martin Pawlak.

Noynay continued to play, but Yeleussinov’s accuracy and striking speed surpassed him. Yeleussinov was the aggressor and took Noynay down, beating him up for most of the fight. As round five ended, Noynay’s corner made a clever move to keep Noynay from taking more punishment and preventing him from answering the bell in round six.

Saturday’s victory over Noynay was Yeleussinov’s first fight since a one-sided win over Juan Hernan Leal in December 2021 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Yeleussinov won a minor welterweight world title belt.

The 33-year-old is from Kayinda, Kazakhstan and currently lives in Miami, Florida.

Chris Glover, who has worked with Jeleussinov and his team, stated that Jeleussinov will likely return to action and fight at 154 pounds.

Yeleussinov was an outstanding amateur, winning an Olympic gold medal in 2016. Yeleussinov signed with Matchroom Boxing and made his professional debut in April 2018, fighting a total of 10 times under the Matchroom banner. Yeleussinov defeated the likes of Reshard Hicks, Alan Sanchez and former lightweight titleholder Julius Indongo by knockout.

Noynay, who lives in Paranaque City, Philippines, has a record of 23-5-2, 11 KOs. Noynay previously fought on May 16, losing by knockout to once-defeated Jin Sasaki.

The 29-year-old split two fights with junior lightweight title challenger Liam Wilson and former junior lightweight world champion Kenichi Ogawa.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

OUR NEWSLETTER

Subscribe Us To Receive Our Latest News Directly In Your Inbox!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Trending