Josh Taylor hints at weigh division change after controversial win over Jack Catterall
- Published
Taylor 'put too much pressure' on himself in Catterall defence
World champion Josh Taylor says Saturday's controversial split decision win over Jack Catterall is likely to be his last bout at light-welterweight.
The Scot held on to his WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO belts at a raucous OVO Hydro in Glasgow, despite most observers believing England's Catterall had claimed a stunning upset.
Two judges scored in favour of Taylor, who was floored in the eighth round, in a verdict met with widespread disbelief and described as "disgusting" by the Catterall camp.
"It's probably my last fight at 140, to be honest, but we'll see how it goes," Taylor told the BBC. "Anybody, anybody in the world - 147, 140, I'll fight anybody."
Taylor remains unbeaten after a win that was variously described as "disgusting", "embarrassing" and a "stain on his career" by the great and good of the sport.
A distraught Catterall was not prepared to speak after the fight, but posted an emotional message on Instagram on Sunday, saying his dreams had been "stolen".
"You know what hurts the most? It wasn't me I did all this for. It was for my family, my team, my town, and country. My baby girl and missus. Our future," the previously undefeated Englishman wrote.
"Today I should have been waking up with all of the belts. After 15 months out of the ring, they all wrote me off. I sacrificed everything to fight one of the top pound-for-pound ranked fighters and gave him a lesson. For what? Boxing, shame on you."
Despite that, 31-year-old Taylor insisted that "I know I won the fight" despite conceding that he did not meet his high standards.
"I just felt a little tight in the first half of the fight," he added. "A little bit too tense, trying a little bit too hard. Being the favourite, I had to put a lot of pressure on myself to put in a good performance.
"He did everything I knew he was going to do, it just wasn't the best performance from me.
"I took over in the second half of the fight and I won. I didn't think I needed to get the stoppage. He stole a couple of the middle rounds but overall I won the 12 rounds fine.
"I left it a little bit too late to get the weight down but it's no excuse. The weight wasn't an issue from the performance."
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Gassed Up: Rapper Mist takes on celebrity opponents in a daring driving challenge
Villanelle and Eve are back: Watch the trailer for the extraordinary new series of Killing Eve
Related topics
- Published16 October 2022
