Josh Taylor isn’t too concerned about the perception that he got away with one of the biggest heist jobs in a boxing ring in recent memory.
The WBO 140-pound titlist from Scotland said in a recent interview that he remains unbothered by the criticism that he has faced ever since he won a highly controversial decision over England’s Jack Catterall more than a year ago. The fight, which saw Taylor get the nod on two of the judges’ scorecards, has been characterized as one of the worst decisions in recent British boxing.
After multiple attempts to stage the rematch, Taylor went his own way when his promoter, Top Rank, announced earlier this month that he would be defending his title against former unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez on June 10 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
While social media and news headlines suggested Taylor-Catterall was a travesty of seismic proportions, Taylor said he personally has not experienced much animus or blowback. Taylor also stated that he thinks the commentary for the fight was heavily biased in favor of Catterall and may have adversely skewed public opinion. The fight was broadcasted by Sky, which is British.
“I’m OK with it,” Taylor said of the flack he has received in an interview with Brian Custer on The Last Stand Podcast. “Personally, I’ve not had anything, I’ve not really had much at all (blowback). I’ve had a couple of people come up to me and say, ‘Yeah, I thought maybe he (Catterall) may have just nicked it.’ I’ve had nobody come up to me and say it was a robbery.
“You know, most of them that said it was a robbery was English people because it was England versus Scotland. When you watch that fight with that commentary, it was biased from the very first bell. It was unbelievable. You watch that fight without commentary, it's a completely different fight. The commentary is very sort of convincing in the words that they’ve been using.”
Sean Nam is the author of the forthcoming book Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.