Undisputed super-lightweight champion Josh Taylor may yet decide to stay at 140lbs.
The Scot told media after his win against Jack Catterall in February that he would move up to 147lbs, where the likes of Terence Crawford could lie in wait.
However, Taylor still hasn’t made his mind up on what his next move will be with the negotiation period for a mandatory fight against WBA Interim belt holder Alberto Puello due to expire today.
Speaking to The National, he said: “I want to fight Jack again to shut everyone else up. I want to put it right, put it to bed and make sure I’m still the best in the division and the best in the world. I’d like to give Jack a rematch to really fill him in and perform at my best.
“If I stay at 140lbs, the WBA have already called in a mandatory so that has to happen next otherwise I get stripped of a title and if I stay at 140 there’s no way I’m giving up any of the belts.”
Taylor said that any decision about remaining at 10 stone would have to be discussed with his team following his poor performance against Catterall.
“I’ll need to have a good chat with my nutritionist and my team and see if we can do it safely or approach things differently if I stay at 140lbs. I’m 31 and I’ve been making the same weight since I was 21. It’s getting harder in between fights and that last one proved really hard. You saw the state
of me on the scales and the performance I put in was way below par.”
On the night at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro the consensus was that Catterall, his WBO mandatory challenger at the time, had done enough to gain the win after 12 rounds. The scorecards that followed were widely criticised and led to the demotion of official Ian John Lewis, by the British Boxing Board, who awarded a 114-111 verdict to Taylor.
The outcry on social media afterwards turned nasty in some quarters with personal attacks and even death threats coming the way of Taylor and his family.
“The fall-out has been crazy and I’ve never seen anything like it. The abuse Danielle (Taylor’s fiancé) and my wee sister have had, it’s crazy.
“It doesn’t bother me getting it but when you see it affecting your family, it’s tough. When you see them getting personal attacks about their appearance and threats of violence, it’s really hard to take.”