Hot on the heels of the bad news regarding the pulled heavyweight clash between Dillian Whyte and Otto Wallin, comes news that Josh Taylor’s first defence of the unified titles at 140 pounds has also been called off. Unbeaten Scottish star Taylor was to have defended his four belts against WBO mandatory Jack Catterall, also unbeaten, on December 18th. Taylor suffered a knee injury in training and the fight will now take place on February 26th, at the same venue, The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.
Both fighters have used the word that is so often uttered whenever a big fight gets postponed – “gutted.” So too are the fans; fight fans who have seen more than enough big-fight postponements here in 2021. Unlike the Dillian Whyte situation, however, no-one as of yet has questioned the validity of Taylor’s knee injury, nor has anyone asked to see proof of the injury. Of course, what surprised some people, call them sceptics if you like, was the manner in which Whyte announced he was injured so close to his fight date (Whyte pulling out just ten days before the Oct 30 date with Wallin).
Taylor says he will make his homecoming a special affair, but that it will unfortunately have to wait a couple of months. Last seen beating Oscar Valdez in a brilliant fight in May of this year, 30 year old Taylor, 18-0(13) is a pound-for-pound entrant in many places. As for Catterall, unbeaten at 26-0(13) he says he will use the frustration of what has happened to good effect and that “things happen for a reason.”
This interesting all-southpaw showdown will now be one of the early part of 2022’s highlights. On the plus side for the remainder of this somewhat troubled year, there are still some potentially great fights to come, with stars such as Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford, Shawn Porter, Teofimo Lopez, Gervonta Davis and others all set for action in the final weeks of what has been, shall we say, an eventful 2021.