Jack Catterall is not a happy man.
Two pieces of news in recent weeks have frustrated the 28-year-old after the finest performance of his career against Josh Taylor in February. The fallout from the controversial scoring and the belief of many that Catterall did enough to win should have arguably had him back on the road to more big fights.
His request to be reinstated as WBO mandatory challenger was turned down in April and now it seems any hope of a rematch against Taylor looks further away than ever. Last week Taylor’s promoters Top Rank told Sky Sports that they were working on putting together the Scot’s WBC mandatory defence against Jose Zepeda. The story came just a few days after it was revealed super-lightweight world champion was no longer undisputed after he vacated the WBA title.
“Top Rank have got both Zepeda and Josh and they’ll want to keep that fight in house. Win, lose or draw, Top Rank have got the belts,” said Catterall during an interview with talkSPORT.
“I do believe there’s only one fight for Josh at 140lbs and that’s against me. Ultimately, he cannot go and fight Zepeda and if he does, he’s not a man of his word.”
Taylor had indicated after his struggles to get the win over Catterall he would move up to welterweight and has said he would be happy to give ‘El Gato’ a rematch. But in the weeks and months since their clash in February hostilities between the two have grown and grown with shots aimed at one another on social media.
“He [Taylor] said we would have a rematch at welterweight or a catchweight, but now he’s decided to stay at 140 lbs. The fans are calling for it, I’m calling for it, it’s an easy fight to be made, let’s get it on,” said Catterall.
It now looks certain that Catterall will have to move on and go down a different route to gain a second world title opportunity. Former unified 140lbs champion Regis Prograis could be an option, a fight which Catterall has said he would take.
In the four governing body’s top ten rankings Catterall finds himself at number three, four, six and twelve with the WBO, WBC, IBF and WBA. The Chorley southpaw shared his disappointment at the World Boxing Organisation’s decision to drop him two places and not give him his mandatory position back which he believed he deserved after the events in Glasgow three months ago.
“I won the WBO European title back in 2014,” Catterall said. “In between that I’ve won the British title, but I’ve defended the WBO Inter-Continental title, which is linked to below the world title, I’ve defended that ten times.
“Never turned down an opponent, always held down my side of the bargain, always paid my sanctioning fees, I’ve done everything I’ve ever been asked for.
“Then, it comes to that point, you pay your sanctioning fees, and you get s*** on and that’s the only way I can describe it.”