Boxing fandom is as fickle as it gets. One minute, you are the man of the hour and everyone is chanting your name; the next, you’re an outcast and no one has a good word to say. Look no further than former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. The hard-hitting Englishman was the face of the sport in the UK and he struggled to make a false move. He fast-forwards to a brief post-fight meltdown, following a second loss to Oleksandr Usyk, and it’s open season at AJ.
The good news is that boxing often gives you the opportunity to turn things around in your favor. Joshua will get a chance to fully restore his reputation, as will Josh Taylor, who is hoping to erase the memory of a highly controversial 12-round split decision victory over Jack Catterall at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland on February 26.
Going into that fight, Catterall was pretty much out of the question. Despite a 26-0 record, the Englishman hadn’t mixed with anyone of Taylor’s caliber and this was his first world title fight. By contrast, Taylor, then the undisputed junior welterweight champion, was enjoying one of the best careers in elite boxing: Viktor Postol (UD 12), Ryan Martin (TKO 7), Ivan Baranchyk (UD 12), Regis Prograis (MD 12) and José Ramírez (UD 12). Catterall settled as a 9-1 underdog in a two-horse race.
But as Catterall’s trainer, Jamie Moore, told me weeks after the fight: “Just because you haven’t fought professionally at a certain level doesn’t mean you can’t compete at that level.” Moore was right. Catterall got off to a great start, hitting Taylor with the left jab, landing more clean shots and scoring the champion.
Taylor came back strong in the second half of the fight, but a lot of things went wrong for her. He was knocked down for the first time in his career, in the eighth round, and despite Catterall being deducted a point for holding on in the tenth, Taylor was penalized one point for lunging with a body shot after the bell to put end to the fight. eleven
Both fighters received 113-112 scorecards, split by a hard-to-believe tally of 114-111 in favor of Taylor. The offending judge, Ian John-Lewis, was demoted after the BBBoC conducted its own investigation into the official scorecards. From my ringside position, I didn’t meet a writer who felt Taylor deserved a thumbs up. That said, recent Hall of Famer Andre Ward and The Ring’s own editor-in-chief Doug Fischer and others had Taylor win by one point.
The aftermath of the fight spiraled out of control. It’s okay to be upset about a decision, but some fans abused Taylor’s family and that’s crossing the line. The 31-year-old Scot is not one to take offenses lightly, so he did what came naturally and went on the offensive. There was more than one back-and-forth with Catterall, who had gone from heartbroken to livid, and bad blood swept through the online community for weeks.
The situation now is that Taylor seeks to avenge a victory and Catterall wants justice. The rematch, although not officially done yet, is expected to take place before the end of the year.
The Ring caught up with Taylor for the first time since that cold winter night in February:
The Ring: What is married life like?
Josh Taylor: “Same same… except she’s moaning a little more now (laughs). Not all it’s rigth.
The Ring: There is nothing confirmed in terms of his next fight. Where is your physical condition right now?
JT: “I’m in good shape and training away. Obviously, after the Las Vegas fight (Ramirez), I enjoyed the victory after making history. It’s just that I enjoyed it a little too much. I took too much time out of the gym, ate too much, drank too much, and gained too much weight. I’ve learned from that mistake and I haven’t done it this time. I kept training in the gym, moving forward and keeping fit.
The Ring: It has been a difficult time in your professional career. Catterall’s result brought out a lot of crazy people, people who cross the line between boxing and the personal. How has that made you feel?
JT: “It’s part of the game. The opinions of boxing fans change like the weather. After my next fight, when I put on a big display, I’ll go back to ‘He’s a really good fighter!’ I don’t take any of it.
“What was hard to bear was the witch hunt afterwards. It was totally overboard. The witch hunt was just amazing and totally biased. I don’t think it was a bad decision and I thought it could have gone either way. If it had been Jack for a couple of rounds, I wouldn’t have complained, but it happened to me for a couple of rounds. There were a lot of close rounds in that fight where it was who you preferred. There were many swing rounds. I was holding on a lot, canceling [the action] and not be combative. If it had been for him, they obviously would have gutted me. I would have lost my titles, but the witch hunt after that was really unnecessary. There have been much worse decisions since that fight. [There’s been bad decisions] on Matchroom shows, terrible, and they just get swept under the rug. Nothing is said about it.”
Catterall looked like a top-five junior welterweight against Taylor, who didn’t look like an elite fighter. Photo by Lawrence Lustig
The Ring: The personal abuse got out of hand, there’s no denying that, but there was also a tug-of-war between you and Jack on social media. Do you regret getting involved in that? That kind of thing stirs the pot.
JT: “I don’t regret anything. They gave me the part of the bad boy, so I got tough and played it. If they give me the role of the bad guy, I’m happy to do it. I don’t give a damn. I don’t care what other people think.”
The Ring: It seems that we will have the second fight. What drives you before the rematch? In your mind, what goes through your mind when you think about getting back up there with Jack Catterall?
JT: “If he can’t beat me at my worst, there’s no way he can beat me at my best. I screwed up my weight last time and was very unmotivated. That was a mistake. I didn’t overlook Jack Catterall, I know he’s a good fighter, but I couldn’t get motivated for the fight for some reason. That’s not a factor this time.
“I want to shut everyone up. The Bias Commentary: The complete and utter bias from the opening bell (on the Sky Sports broadcast). I just want to shut everyone up and say, ‘Look, I had a bad night!’ I want to fix him, put him to bed and get on with my career.”
The Ring: You say you couldn’t get motivated, but you didn’t underestimate Jack. There is a small contradiction there. If you didn’t have the competitive juices flowing like you did with Viktor Postol, Ivan Baranchyk, Regis Prograis and Jose Ramirez, doesn’t that mean the general feeling was that you had to show up?
JT: No, no, 100 percent no. I told (coach) Ben [Davison] four or five times in camp that I couldn’t get up for the fight.
“Looking back, I think it’s because I had just climbed Everest in terms of becoming the undisputed world champion. What can I do now to keep achieving, keep climbing, keep chasing these dreams? Let’s move up to welterweight and chase a world title at a second weight. I needed to stay motivated and hungry.
“But then it was just staying and defending his titles against Jack Catterall. I know that he had made that prior arrangement before the [Ramirez] fight, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do. He wanted to move up and keep chasing. I missed the fire, but I didn’t miss it. It was just a fight that didn’t get my juices flowing. I couldn’t get up, but that’s not the case now.”
The Ring: Where are the negotiations for a rematch?
JT: “We are looking to do it as soon as possible. I am waiting to hear what Top Rank has to say and they are contacting Sky Sports.
“I did everything in my power to make the fight happen. I have put aside the world titles and I have stayed in weight. I’m waiting for the same as everyone else. It shouldn’t be too hard to do. The only fight I’m interested in right now is the rematch with Catterall. Hopefully we get it soon.”
The Ring: We are in September. I guess we’re looking at the end of this year. You wouldn’t want it to sneak in until next year, would you?
JT: Hopefully, that’s the goal.
Photo by Lawrence Lustig
The Ring: As I understand it, you will be defending the Ring and WBO 140-pound titles against Catterall. Speaking bluntly, and I know his camp was plagued with problems beforehand, are you sure he can be at his best at 140 pounds? You didn’t look good at the weigh-in and, from ringside, you didn’t look very good before the opening bell.
JT: “I didn’t resupply properly. I made the weight cut a little late at the end. It took it away from me a bit. There is no excuse for that. I just didn’t do it right. I wasn’t as motivated and focused as I should have been.”
The Ring: The reason I’m asking you about the weight is that you finished your amateur career campaigning at 141 pounds. You turned pro in 2015 at 140. Your body is maturing and you are now 30 years old. Will you know before the last portion of your cut if you can do this weight correctly?
JT: “Yeah, I did a little test, so we’ll see how it goes. But I’m 100 percent sure I can make this weight again with no problem, especially with the right mindset and the right motivation.”
The Ring: Was your decision to stay at 140 influenced by the fact that Errol Spence and Terence Crawford are tying all belts at 147?
JT: “No, that was not a factor. Like champions do when they have a bad decision or controversial fight, they review it and put it to bed to prove they are champions. That’s what I’m doing.
“I still believe 100 percent that I did enough to win the fight. I think it could have gone either way. His tactics, if he had put his foot on the gas later in the fight, he could have won it. He didn’t and went into survival mode. I won the second half and I thought I won the fight [overall]. There is no one who can convince me otherwise.”
The Ring: I assume this would be your last fight at 140?
JT: “Yes, I think so. More than likely this will be the last.”
The Ring: What else do you want to do in the sport?
JT: “Check this, smash it. I really want to give him a bad and painful beating. No boxing, no moving. I’m going to find it and destroy it; This time I’ll tear it to shreds I will leave no doubt. After that, we can see what’s going on with the rest of my career. But I’m not thinking about that. All I’m thinking about is doing a demolition job on Jack Catterall.
The Ring: You know more about boxing than I do, but isn’t going after Jack exactly what you want? Jack was countering well, getting the right jab out. Don’t you need to play a little chess this time?
JT: “I’ve been with him 12 rounds and I know what he does. He is looking for me to jump so he can counter, but he was caught between two styles. He was caught between boxing and wrestling. He wasn’t prepared to the best of his ability.
“He had a shitty mentality, a shitty motivation and it turned into a shitty performance, but he still had enough to get the win. Now, with the right mindset, the right motivation, the right training and preparation, she doesn’t stand a chance. I know exactly what I can do. I can make this an easy fight.”
The Ring: Smarter Aggression This Time? Are you admitting that you were a little reckless last time?
JT: “I was a little anxious. He was moving me with his hands down and I was a little hesitant about what he was going to do.
“This time, I can make it a really easy fight!”
Tom Gray is Managing Editor of Ring Magazine. Follow him on Twitter: @Tom_Gray_Boxing
