Jack Catterall’s new trainer Derek “Bozy” Ennis is prioritising improving the welterweight’s defence.
The 32 year old has relocated from his home in Chorley, England – near where he long worked under Jamie Moore – to prepare from Ennis’ gym in Philadelphia for his fight with Ekow Essuman at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on the undercard of Chris Eubank Jnr-Nigel Benn II on November 15.
His separation from his long-term trainer Jamie Moore came as a surprise given the widely held perception that he deserved victory when scored the loser via split decision on the night of his undisputed junior-welterweight title fight with Josh Taylor in 2022. He has recorded only one other defeat – in February via split decision to the impressive Arnold Barboza Jnr in his final fight at 140lbs – but in Ennis he has regardless committed to working with the father and trainer of Jaron “Boots” Ennis, the world’s finest welterweight before his move to junior middleweight earlier in 2025.
“Bozy” Ennis is also, among others, the trainer of the Cuban lightweight Andy Cruz and Stephen Fulton, the WBC featherweight champion, but when asked about the most recent, and in many respects unexpected, addition to his gym, he told BoxingScene: “Sometimes he’ll be aggressive; sometimes he’ll box. It all depends on who he’s fighting. It gonna depend on who your opponent is. That’s why I’ma teach him inside and outside. There’s gonna come a time he’s gonna have to do that, and work on that defence while he’s doing it. That’s what’s most important right there.
“I’ve got Jack jabbing a lot, ‘cause he likes to hesitate sometimes when he jabs. He waits for a while. ‘No, don’t wait – set the trap. You a counter puncher – set the trap so you can counter him. Set the trap.’ I’m teaching him little old-school stuff that I know.
“Man, he’s picking it up; he’s picking it up. He was boxing [on Wednesday]. Boxing this kid – the kid was 15-0, 147-pounder. Jack, listen, did real good, man. I mean real good. I’m working with Jack mostly on how to get the defence down. He’s a good counter-puncher [but] he like to drop his right hand all the time; he liked to drop it when he jab; I’m trying to get him to keep it up more, or slip and move. I’ve got him doing a lot of different things though. You’ll see when he fights.
“I thought Jack was pretty good when I was watching him [before working with him]. He’s just got to touch up on little things like I was just explaining – with the defence, a lot of times you ain’t gotta move so much, you can be right there and catching it coming back. Jack’s a good counter-puncher, you know, so a lot of times you can be right there and catching it coming right back off the catch instead of moving so much. That’s what I do with most all of my guys – teach ‘em to fight inside and outside, ‘cause there gonna come a time you got to fight inside. You gon’ have to fight sometime.
“I’ve [also] got the best sparring. I’ve got so many good fighters, man – and everybody comes here [to spar]. This is a workout. That’s the kind of sparring you need, man. You don’t need nobody that you can beat on all the time. You need somebody on your level, or over your level, to make sparring competitive.”
Essuman, 36 and also of Britain, retired Catterall’s long-term rival Taylor in May. Catterall is pursuing the WBO title held by Brian Norman Jnr, who fights Devin Haney in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 22; to work under Ennis he has left his young family – his wife Lauren, their four-year-old daughter Riley and Cody, their three-week-old son – behind.
“That means he really want it, man,” Ennis continued. “He really want it, and he’s a hard worker, man. He’s a hard worker, he’s dedicated, and he listens. That’s what you need in this game.
“What I like about him, he got heart. He got a lot of heart, and he’s strong. People don’t think he’s strong – [but] he can punch.
“Jack came down here before [he fought and beat Harlem Eubank in July]. Jack fit right in with the rest of the guys, man – everybody liked Jack, you know what I mean. I told Jack if he need help, let me know – anytime. I was showing him stuff he didn’t know. That was it.
“Then next thing I know, his manager [adviser Sam Jones] called me and asked how would I feel working with Jack. I said ‘Oh, Jack – yeah. Jack is nice, man. I like Jack. I’d work with Jack. Anytime’. Then he said ‘Okay, it’s a pick between you and Bomac [Brian McIntyre]’. I said ‘Yeah, well let him pick whoever he want – it makes no difference to me’. But he text me back and said he’d picked me. So I said ‘Yeah, come on down’. That’s how that happened.”
