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.”
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