As fight fans know, 15 months is a heck of a long time in the sport of boxing. It’s an even longer period of time, or it can sure seem like it, if a fighter is unable to get a fight during such a space of time. Last night, finally, Jack Catterall, put 15 months of frustration behind him as he pounded out a decision win over a tough and game Darragh Foley on the Leigh Wood-Mauricio Lara rematch card in Manchester.
Catterall, now 27-1(13) but very much feeling like an unbeaten fighter due to the terrible decision that went against him in the much talked about Josh Taylor fight of February last year, wasted a lot of time trying to get the rematch with 140 pound champ Taylor (who, at the time of the Catterall fight, held all four belts at the w eight, and now holds just one belt). Now, at last, the 29 year old southpaw from Chorley has been able to get on with his career.
And, as Catterall said himself last night after getting his first win since November of 2020, there are a lot of big fights out there for him. Eddie Hearn, who recently signed up Catterall and WBC 140 pound champ Regis Prograis, says this is a fight to make. However, Hearn has revealed how unified lightweight champ Devin Haney called him, asking about the Prograis fight himself. It’s no secret the big-for-the-weight Haney is looking to leave the 135 pound weight division behind him as he looks for more belts higher up.
But Catterall wants and deserves another big fight, and Prograis, as he has shown, will fight anyone. Prograis will have his first fight under the Matchroom banner next month, when he will face late replacement Danielito Zorrilla, this in front of his hometown fans in New Orleans. Assuming he wins that fight, Prograis, 28-1(24) – the sole loss coming against Taylor, a man Prograis says he would like to fight again – will have some options open to him.
As for the other possible fights Catterall hopes he may be able to get, he mentioned Haney for himself, along with Ryan Garcia. But would either Haney or Garcia, big names both, be interested in a fight with Catterall? Catterall doesn’t hold a world title, so it’s possible, indeed likely, both guys will aim much higher (Haney with a Prograis fight perhaps, while Garcia has called out Rolly Romero, who was recently all-but handed a world title courtesy of one man, Ismael Barroso, being shamefully robbed via a disgraceful premature stoppage).
Things would have been a whole lot different for Catterall had justice been done on the night of February 26th 2022, as Catterall would have walked away with no less than four world titles. Now, Catterall is back but he faces a potentially long road back to the top.