Jack Catterall should be walking around Chorley as the undisputed world super-lightweight champion. Instead, he’s getting shafted left, right and center.
Not only didn’t the Josh Taylor conqueror get the decision that fateful night in Glasgow, but he’s now getting overlooked by at least two sanctioning bodies for a future title shot.
Fresh from the WBA announcing their mandatory, the WBO dropped Catterall in the rankings despite a plea from the British Boxing Board of Control.
When punishing one of their judges over a one-point difference to another, the BBBofC hollowly said: “The British Boxing Board of Control has contacted the WBO, WBC, IBF, and WBA.
“They support Jack Catterall as the mandatory challenger for each or all Championship Sanctioning Bodies.”
The WBO ignored this request as they put Catterall two places behind his previous position in the ratings. This scenario happened despite both World Boxing News and Ring Magazine raising Catterall’s ranking due to his victory over Taylor.
Nonetheless, if Taylor does relinquish the belts he shouldn’t hold possession of, it looks as though the WBO already have their favored vacant championship bout.
Liam Paro vs. Teofimo Lopez is on the cards for the strap if Taylor moves up soon. The Scot is still denying he lost despite most boxing fans disagreeing with him.
WBO Super-lightweight Rankings – March 2022
1 Liam Paro (WBO Global) AUS
2 Teofimo Lopez USA
3 Jack Catterall GBR
4 Jose Carlos Ramirez USA
5 Jose Zepeda USA
6 Arnold Barboza, Jr. USA
7 Regis Prograis the USA
8 Sam Maxwell (WBO Europe) GBR
9 Danielito Zorrilla (NABO) PRI
10 Tyrone McKenna (Int-Cont) GBR
11 Shohjahon Ergashev UZB
12 Aram Faniia UKR
13 Jose Pedraza PRI
14 Andy Hiraoka (Asia-Pacific) JPN
15 Jeremias Nicolas Ponce ARG
Before the latest kick in the teeth for Catterall, the WBA set their mandatory clash.
“The World Boxing Association (WBA) Championships Committee ordered the mandatory bout. It will be between super lightweight champion Josh Taylor and first challenger Alberto Puello.
“In a communication sent to both parties, the pioneer organization notified them they will have 30 days to negotiate, starting March 8.
JOSH TAYLOR
“Taylor won his championship on October 26, 2019. His mandatory defense period as super champion was 18 months. So he had to fight the mandatory before April 25, 2021.
“Rule C.13 Fighting Limitations states that the champion cannot defend against an opponent other than the mandatory challenger within 60 days after the expiration of his mandatory defense period.
“For that reason, the showdown between Taylor and Puello has been ordered.
“If no agreement gets reached or if either party is unwilling to negotiate, the WBA Championships Committee may call for a purse bid for the fight.”
They certainly needed to order Catterall versus anyone else to save the integrity of boxing. Maybe they still will. And perhaps the WBO will see sense.
Who knows?
The views expressed in this article are opinions of Phil Jay.
Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Founding editor of World Boxing News since 2010. WBN has over one billion views on all platforms.
Attending over 200 events and scoring over 400 fights, Phil has overseen WBN to a quarter of a million followers on social media.
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