Controversy has haunted the rivalry between Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall, to such a degree that promoter Bob Arum believes it merits a deciding trilogy fight.
After unifying the WBO, WBC, WBA and IBF super-lightweight titles, in 2022 Taylor defended his undisputed crown against Catterall in Glasgow. Taylor won a contentious split decision which led, eventually, to a rematch in May.
Catterall got his revenge, beating Taylor on a unanimous decision, 116-113 and 117-111 twice.
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Extended highlights of Josh Taylor’s controversial split decision victory over Jack Catterall
But Top Rank’s Arum condemned the scoring of that second fight.
“Let me clarify. I was in Leeds for that fight. I watched that fight carefully. There were three possible ways to score the fight: 7-5 Catterall [in rounds], 7-5 Taylor, 6-6 even,” Arum told Sky Sports.
“The scorecards from these judges appointed by the British Board were just so out of line that they were unacceptable. Now I don’t think there was any kind of funny business going on or anything like that.”
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He added: “I was really teed off because Taylor is my fighter, we promote him. But it wasn’t necessarily because I thought he clearly won the fight. I just thought it was a disservice to him that the scorecards were so wide. I was sitting next to Eddie Hearn, whose fighter was Catterall, and he was scoring the fight and we had it a very, very close fight.”
The British Boxing Board of Control told Sky Sports that they consider Arum’s comments to be unfounded.
Arum considers the best way to settle the issue between Taylor and Catterall could be a third fight.
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“Why not? They certainly fought their hearts out for 12 rounds and the crowd loved the fight,” he explained.
“Because the scorecards really created a controversy I think a third fight would be in order. But let’s see how it plays out.”
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