This Saturday night, former undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor will be coming out of hibernation mode to make a rare appearance in a rematch against Jack Catterall on May 25th, live on DAZN at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England.
(Photo credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Catterall’s Career: A Classic Case of Failure to Launch
Taylor vs. Catterall is a business-level fight targeted at domestic audiences. The winner doesn’t have any hopes of dethroning one of the champions at 140. That’s a pipe dream if their promoters believe they can capture world titles.
That ain’t happening. This is just a money fight and nothing more. It would be nice to see the winner take on one of the talented opposition for a change instead of continuing to feed off of the lower level.
For example, Catterall’s last two fights have been against these guys: Darragh Foley and Jorge Linares[38-years-oldWhere’stheambition?Whyisthe30-year-oldCatterallstillfightingthislevelofoppositionafter12yearsasapro?[38-years-oldWhere’stheambition?Whyisthe30-year-oldCatterallstillfightingthislevelofoppositionafter12yearsasapro?
What we have here is a classic case of failure to launch syndrome, which is another reason fans aren’t interested in seeing Catterall and Taylor fight a rematch.
Two Years Too Late
Two years ago, Taylor beat Catterall by a controversial decision in Glasgow, and the rematch has not happened until now. Unfortunately, it’s too late for these guys to fight, and the rematch is forlorn. Whoever wins on Saturday, it’s not going to make much difference.
Taylor and Catterll are not going anywhere in the 140-lb division in terms of being major players or capturing world titles, in my view. I don’t see either of these guys doing well against the killers in the division.
Whatever fan interest that was once there for the Taylor-Catterall rematch is pretty much entirely gone, given that it’s been two years since they fought in 2022, and neither fighter has done their careers since.
Taylor was soundly beaten in his last fight in June of last year by Teofimo Lopez, and he’s not fought since. The way that Teofimo easily outboxed the 33-year-old Josh Taylor, showing that he was just a phony hype job, makes it clear he’s not one of the top guys in the 140-lb division at this stage.
The rematch between these two has only attracted interest from pockets of UK fans, but it hasn’t created of excitement among the general population and definitely not in the U.S.
Taylor and Catterall aren’t on the radar screen with American boxing fans, and it’s obvious why. Neither has established themselves as being worthy of paying attention to, which is why their rematch doesn’t make any sense.
A Missed Opportunity for Catterall
If promoter Eddie Hearn wanted to help Catterall’s career in a real way, he’d match him against one of the talented up-and-comers in the light welterweight division, like one of these guys:
– Gary Antuanne Russell
– Elvis Rodriguez
– Jamaine Ortiz
– Gustavo Lemos
– Subriel Matias
– Liam Paro
– Keyshawn Davis
