Unified world lightweight champion Josh Taylor 19-0 (13 KOs) escaped with his WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO belts via a scandalous twelve round split decision against mandatory challenger Jack Catterall 26-1 (13 KOs) tonight after being dropped, deducted a point abd outclassed for the majority of the bout. Catterall took the initiative and appeared the find his measure with crafty counters behind an accurate jab. Jack nullified a less than impressive Taylor and never allowed the champion to get a foothold in the action for the first 6 rounds. Catterall lead the fight by a streak on the punch stats throughout the bout and dropped your desperate Taylor in the 8th. Catterall was himself deducted a point in the 10th for holding. Taylor was instructed to be more urgent going into the 11th but again found himself outgunned and outmanoeuvred by the clever challenger. Josh was deducted a point for his conduct at the end of the eleventh but managed to hustle through the 12th in desperation to save his titles. At the conclusion Catterall had a big edge in the punch stats landing 120 punches to 73 throughout the fight, with an 81-57 differential in power shots and a 39 to 16 difference in jabs. Experienced ex fighters and knowledgable ringsides appeared outraged when 2 of the 3 scorecards were announced with Taylor leading. A star referee and former fighter Ian John Lewis scored the bout as a shocking 114-111 in favour of the home fighter, alongside referee and judge Victor Laughlin who scored the bout 113-112 for fellow Scotsman Taylor, with only English judge Howard Foster cutting closer to the mark with a 113-112 in favour of the challenger.
A visibly outraged Catterall left the ring immediately whilst numerous ringside critics voiced their shock anger at what many described as the worse decision they have ever witnessed in boxing, former world Cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson described it as embarrassing and disastrous for the sport.
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