Josh Taylor stuck around at junior welterweight to satisfy an overdue mandatory title defense obligation.
At least one more challenger is waiting in the wings, hoping that the unbeaten, undisputed champion will remain at the weight for at least one more fight.
Dominican Republic’s Alberto Puello (20-0, 10KOs) and his team didn’t necessarily agree with the outcome of Taylor’s split decision win over England’s Jack Catterall this past Saturday in Glasgow, Scotland. Of greater concern to the 27-year-old southpaw, however, is the opportunity to convert his WBA mandatory contender status into a lucrative opportunity rather than settle for a vacant title.
“I’ve waited a long time for my title shot,” Puello told BoxingScene.com following Taylor’s victory. “Now that I am the mandatory challenger, I hope that Taylor does not run and accepts this fight.”
The concern is understandable for Puello, who for months demanded that the WBA order Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (26-0, 24KOs) to face him in a title consolidation bout. Puello was the interim titlist until the sanctioning body removed the belts from circulation last August. Davis had claimed a secondary version of the WBA title with an eleventh-round knockout of Mario Barrios last June, and was permitted to hold belts at lightweight and junior welterweight through his next fight, with the promise of committing to one division or the other immediately thereafter.
Davis claimed a twelve-round win over Isaac Cruz in their December 5 lightweight fight at Staples Center (now Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. The fight took place at lightweight, where Baltimore’s Davis opted to stay put as he vacated his secondary junior welterweight title.
That leaves Puello with a clear path to the WBA “Super” title held by Taylor (19-0, 13KOs), who is also on the hook for a WBC mandatory title defense versus Jose ‘Chon’ Zepeda. Taylor stated after his disputed win over Catterall that the fight was likely his last at junior welterweight, with the very likely scenario of campaigning at welterweight beginning with his next fight.
Such a move would not guarantee a title shot, as WBO welterweight titlist Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford (38-0, 29KOs) just satisfied his mandatory title defense obligation and is not due to make another until May 20, 2023. Puello and his team are ready to guarantee their services for whenever Taylor is ready to return to the ring.
“We hope that Taylor does not abandon the titles for us to have the opportunity to face him,” Belgica Pena, head of Shuan Boxing told BoxingScene.com. “We know that he is a great champion but we believe that he lost this fight and they gave it to him.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox