Jack Catterall may have put himself into position for another shot at a junior welterweight title.

The skilled southpaw from Chorley, England, returned to the ring last Saturday for the first time in more than a year to drop countryman Darragh Foley twice en route to a lopsided unanimous decision on the undercard of the Leigh Wood vs. Mauricio Lara featherweight title bout at AO Arena in Manchester.

Now Catterall has apparently turned his attention for a shot at Regis Prograis, the WBC 140-pound beltholder from New Orleans.

Both Catterall and Prograis recently signed with Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, which makes a fight between them realistic, at least on paper.

According to Sam Jones, an advisor to Catterall, the plan is to start engaging Hearn on making that matchup next. Prograis himself is preoccupied with an upcoming fight on June 17 against

“Regis Prograis, next, in September That would be the ideal fight,” Jones told iFL TV. “Big fan of Regis Prograis. He will fight anybody. I’ll be talking to Eddie next week to try and get that fight on next.”

Catterall was on the losing end of one of the more controversial boxing decisions in recent British boxing memory, when he dropped a split decision to Josh Taylor one year ago in their undisputed 140-pound championship. Many believed Catterall, who even scored a knockdown in that fight, deserved to win on the cards. Their rematch was in limbo for nearly a year before Taylor decided, in the end, to pursue a fight with Teofimo Lopez; that fight will take place June 10 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Jones believes that Catterall’s popularity has only increased since his loss to Taylor.  

“Jack wants to become world champion,” Jones said. “The money comes with being a world champion. You saw the reception that Jack got there. Somebody said that Jack doesn’t sell tickets. I think you saw in there, Jack does sell tickets. Manchester, Chorley, they’re right behind him. The big fights are coming back to Manchester.”

He added, “Big, big fights now.”

Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.