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Scottish professional boxer Josh Taylor became the undisputed super-lightweight champion on Saturday night with a controversial win over England's Jack Catterall. It was an ugly bout in Glasgow where Catterall, against everyone's expectations, produced his career's best-ever performance. He landed some clean punches on his opponent and it looked just a matter of time before he would become the new champion. However, the officials' verdict left everyone in shock!
While judge Howard Foster awarded the bout to Catterall (113-112), the duo of Ian John-Lewis and Victor Loughlin gave the scores of 114-111 and 113-112, respectively, in favour of Josh Taylor. As a result of this shocking split decision, Taylor retained the titles leaving his opponent in absolute agony.
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As soon as the results were announced, Jack Catterall stormed out of the arena in disbelief. He did not turn up for the post-match interview but did give his reaction on Twitter few hours after the match. The 28-year-old was expectedly hurt with the result despite putting a valiant effort and he did not shy away from expressing his true feelings to everyone as he tweeted, "What a load of sh*t."
"Jack Catterall got absolutely robbed," claims his trainer
Notably, Catterall's trainer, Jamie Moore, did speak to media and reflected on the decision on what he termed as heartbreaking. “It’s difficult to put into words. You’re talking about a kid who has worked all his life to wait for that moment, who stepped aside, who has waited three years for his opportunity," he said.
"He stepped aside, did the right thing for boxing, stepped aside to allow a unified champion on the promise that he would get the opportunity. He gets the opportunity, he performs like that and beats the champion in his own backyard and gets absolutely robbed. Think about the message that sends to people watching. My son is 16 and just getting into boxing. He’ll be looking at that and thinking, why should I get into boxing? " Moore added.
“The moment you think you’ve worked all your life and you are going to be crowned world champion after a performance like that, and it’s snatched away from you. It’s disgusting, I don’t even know what to say. You’ve asked Jack to come down here, as if Jack can come and speak. He’s absolutely heartbroken," Catterall's trainer concluded.
