Silencing the doubters is Taylor’s aim in rematch
Josh to face Catterall again in April bout
JOSH Taylor has vowed to silence his doubters as he gets ready to step into the ring with Jack Catterall for the second time.
The rematch between the two boxers, which will take place on April 27 at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, is more than two years in the making.
Next Monday (February 26) marks exactly two years since then undisputed world champion Taylor took a controversial split decision victory against the unfancied challenger Catterall in Glasgow.
Plenty has been said since then in terms of whether Taylor deserved to retain his WBA (Super), WBC, IBF and WBO light-welterweight titles or whether Catterall should have been toasting an upset win.
On Monday, the two men came head-to-head once again as the promotion of the fight – titled Hate Runs Deep – got under way.*
Taylor said: “It is kind of a crossroads fight. Evidently, my last two fights have not been great so I’ve got a point to prove.
“I need to be back to my best and win this fight to keep my career on the go. It’s a big fight.”
Since the bout, Taylor has lost to Teofimo Lopez, who became a two-weight division champion, while Catterall has defeated Darragh Foley and 38-year-old Jorge Linares.
Taylor and Catterall had to be separated when they went headto-head at the press conference in Edinburgh.
Taylor, of Prestonpans, acknowledged that there were a lot of people critical of him and he was going to show that he still had the hunger and desire to succeed.
He said: “There is a lot of bragging rights and pride and to put the doubters to bed.
“I learned [against Catterall] not to underestimate your opponent.
“I lived by that my whole career.
“But when you have the level of success I have had in such a short period of time, then they say you are fighting Jack Catterall, who hadn’t really proven himself.
“I thought he had lost against Ohara Davies and it was ‘just be fit and I will beat this guy’ and that was the biggest mistake I made.
“I never learned the lesson but I won’t be making the same mistake twice.”
Taylor also spoke about the online trolls who had made life difficult for him and his family since the Catterall fight.
He said: “It has been OK. At the start it was pretty heavy but it was all online. In person, I haven’t had anything really.
“I have had people come up to me and say I thought he won the fight, which is great, that is their opinion and I have absolutely no problem with that at all.
“But when the abuse starts and the family start getting it and you see how it affects them, that’s when it turns to a different dynamic and tone and it turned violent, putting my wife and sister’s places of work online and threats of violence, coming to their work.
“It is unacceptable. Any man would defend their family.
“I should have kept my mouth shut but then you can only kick a dog so many times before it bites back and that’s what I did, bit back a couple of times, but I should have kept quiet.”
Catterall, from Chorley, Lancashire, was, looking forward to getting back in the ring.
He said: “I believe I won last time. “Two years on now, I’ve stayed in the gym, I’ve looked after myself, I’ve picked up two victories since then and he went to New York and got smashed.
“I believe he is on the decline. “I am going to capitalise on it and put him to bed.”
The fight will be shown live on pay-per-view streaming service DAZN.