Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall was a

professional boxing Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse bid, purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regula ...

match contested between undisputed

light-welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

champion,

Josh Taylor Josh or Joshua Taylor may refer to: * Josh Taylor (actor) (born 1943), American comedy and dramatic television actor * Josh Taylor (baseball) (born 1993), American professional baseball pitcher * Josh Taylor (boxer) (born 1991), Scottish profession ...

, and the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...

, Jack Catterall. The event took place on 26 February 2022, at the OVO Hydro in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. Whilst Taylor was awarded a decision victory, the true result of the fight was highly debated.

Background

In January 2019, Catterall was installed as the number one challenger to

champion

Maurice Hooker Maurice Dewayne Hooker (born August 7, 1989) is an American professional boxer who held the WBO light welterweight title from 2018 to 2019 and challenged for the WBC light welterweight title in 2019. As of August 2020, he is ranked as the worl ...

. After Hooker lost his title in a unification fight against

WBC WBC may stand for: Business *Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, a former large India broadcaster now folded into CBS *Westpac (New Delhi Exchange code: WBC), a multinational Financial services company *Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT Wholesale's ...

champion José Ramírez in July, the WBO ordered Ramírez to face Catterall in a mandatory defence. However, the WBC also ordered Ramírez to face their mandatory challenger,

Viktor Postol Viktor Vasylovych Postol ( uk, Віктор Васильович Постол; born 16 January 1984) is a Ukrainian professional boxer who held the WBC light-welterweight title from 2015 to 2016 and challenged twice for the WBO light-welterwei ...

. Ramírez chose to fight Postol with the agreement that the winner face Catterall next. Less than 48 hours after Ramírez defeated Postol in August 2020, he was again ordered to face Catterall next. In October, Catterall had confirmed that he agreed to a "step-aside" deal to allow Ramírez to face unified WBA (Super),

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

, and '' The Ring'' champion, Josh Taylor, for the undisputed light-welterweight title, again with the agreement that Catterall face the winner next. Taylor defeated Ramírez via unanimous decision on 22 May 2021. Days after his victory, Taylor said of Catterall, "Jack Catterall was decent enough to let me do this fight first. He's been mandatory for some time. He agreed to step aside to let this fight happen. You can see his point, there's method in his madness. If that fight's next, he's got the chance to become undisputed champion. He's made a good choice." In August,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

reported that terms had been agreed between Taylor and Catterall to meet on 18 December at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow. It was announced by Taylor on 21 October that he had suffered an injury, and thus the fight would be postponed to 26 February 2022. A few details on the undercard were announced late January which includes a ten round bout between Robeisy Ramirez and

Eric Donovan Eric Donovan (born 26 July 1985) is an Irish professional boxer. As an amateur he was a five-time Irish national champion and won bronze medals at the 2009 European Union Championships and the 2010 European Championships. His new website has ...

. A recent new signing from Top Rank will host a debut match for Kieran Molloy against an opponent yet to be named.

Fight card

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Catterall Boxing matches 2022 in boxing 2022 in Scottish sport February 2022 sports events in the United Kingdom Sports competitions in Glasgow 2020s in Glasgow