Junior welterweight contender Jack Catterall has verbally lashed out in the direction of WBO world champion Josh Taylor.
A year ago, Taylor picked up a controversial twelve round split decision over Catterall.
At the time, Taylor was the undisputed world champion at 140-pounds.
As the months flew by in 2022, Taylor dropped three of his world titles as the sanctioning bodies ordered mandatory defenses.
Taylor indicated that he was avoiding his mandatory defenses in order to go forward with a planned rematch with Catterall.
The date of the rematch was pushed back several times, by Taylor, due to injury and wedding plans.
It appeared they were going to collide in the first quarter of 2023, but now it seems Taylor will make a mandatory defense against former unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez.
Catterall, clearly frustrated, is making plans to move forward with his career.
"He talked about sacrificing so much to make the fight happen. I believe the fight with Josh is big enough to happen without a world title," Catterall told Sky Sports.
"If he's that confident of beating me and then moving up to 147lbs, fight me without a title. I'd be all open for that. But all of a sudden he's staying at 140lbs, he's fighting Lopez for the WBO. It doesn't make any sense to me. If he's that confident of beating me and then moving up, let's do it with no world title. I can't put any more energy into Josh Taylor
"I've lost all confidence in him now. Numerous times he's pulled out the fight and this time was the cherry on top, pulling out the fight and then a week later announcing negotiations with another fighter at 140lbs. I don't like the sound of it so it's time to focus on me. I've got a family to feed and I want to go and win world titles."
Catterall is now looking to get a crack at newly crowned WBC champion Regis Prograis. The two sides are in talks and he believes the fight can come off.
"The talks are ongoing now. We've had communication with his team. I believe we're not too far off. As long as Regis is happy and accepts the fight I don't think we're a million miles away now. That fight between me and Prograis is a massive fight, WBC world title and it's one that I want to get my hands on. So this is a message to Prograis: let's get it on. I'm not ducking anyone, I'm coming directly to you," Catterall said.
"In an ideal world I beat Regis, Josh beats Lopez and we can get that fight on. That fight's always going to be there with Josh. In an ideal world that is what we would like. But I'm not overconfident. I do think Lopez beats him. [In his last fight] Lopez didn't look great but I'm backing Lopez to beat him."