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Home » ‘It wasn’t that Josh Taylor didn’t show up, Jack Catterall was just better’

‘It wasn’t that Josh Taylor didn’t show up, Jack Catterall was just better’

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Former world welterweight champion Timothy Bradley believes Jack Catterall beat Josh Taylor as the better fighter, not due to any other influences.

During his ESPN assessment, Bradley gave Catterall all the credit for his game plan to nullify Taylor’s work.

Winning at least eight rounds, out-scoring Taylor in eleven of twelve, and out punching him two-to-one, Catterall won the fight by a margin.

Jack Catterall should own the undisputed super-lightweight titles right now. Therefore, WBN placed the Chorley man above Taylor on the pound-for-pound list.

Following that notion, Bradley’s words air as a condemnation of the perfect storm that allowed Taylor to walk away with his belts.

It seems that nothing Catterall would have done would be good enough to take those titles out of Glasgow.

“Before every fight, analysts, judges, referees, and fans all have preconceived notions of how we think a fight is going to play out,” Bradley told ESPN.

“We debate who is going to win, how they will do it, and of course how we’ll react to the result.

“Sometimes those prefight feelings can influence fans and even judges in how they perceive what they’re actually watching.”

World Boxing News decided to drop Taylor as champion until a full review of the result gets completed. Bradley seems to agree with that move.

“Officials should judge fights exclusively on what happens inside the ring. Before every championship fight, the champion walks out with the belts, he gets into the ring with the belts, but when the bell rings, he’s no longer a champion.

“While the belts sit with the commission outside the ring and the fight is on, there isn’t a champion.”

Jack Catterall beats Josh Taylor BOXXER
Lawrence Lustig

JACK CATTERALL

Also, Bradley admitted his own failings in the run-up to the contest.

“I’ll admit I also dropped the ball in the lead-up to this fight. I know I mentioned the left hand of Catterall in my article last week.

“I said it could be effective. But I missed one of Taylor’s key vulnerable spots. I went back, and I watched Taylor’s fight against Regis Prograis.

“Prograis was having his best moments when he was fighting off the back foot and luring in Taylor. That’s exactly how Catterall had all of his success.

“He lured Taylor in, let him make mistakes, beat him with the jab, and then made Taylor pay with big, clean shots over the top.”

Overall, the two-weight world champion says Catterall was by far the top fighter on the night.

“Catterall deserves a lot of credit. This result has nothing to do with Taylor not showing up ready or being drawn out because of his weight cut.

“This was Catterall at his best, executing an extremely effective game plan.”

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