IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Josh ‘Tartan Tornado’ Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs) was forced to fight tooth & nail to defeat WBO mandatory Jack Catterall (26-1, 13 KOs) by a 12 round split decision on Saturday night at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.
The fight could have gone either way, but the hometown fighter Taylor got the decision, which shouldn’t be a shock. The judges’ scores were:
- 114-111 – Taylor
- 113-112 – Taylor
- 113-112 – Catterall
Taylor, 31, was knocked down for the first time in his career in the eighth round. Catterall, 28, gassed out after hurting Taylor and had precious little left in the last four rounds of the contest.
In the tenth, Catterall was penalized for holding. In the eleventh, it was Taylor that lost a point for hitting after the bell.
You can argue that Taylor should have been penalized two or three additional times for roughing up Catterall with head-butts and rabbit punches.
Undercard results for Taylor – Catterall card in Glasgow.
- Featherweight prospect Robeisy Ramirez (9-1, 5 KOs) looked impressive in halting Eric Donovan (14-2, 8 KOs) by a third round knockout in the co-feature fight. The two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy, 28, knocked Donovan down with a short hook to the head in the first. In the third, Robeisy stunned Donovan with a big shot that caused him to lose his legs. That match was then stopped at 1:04 of the round. Robeisy defeated Shakur Stevenson in the 2016 Olympics gold medal match.
- In a thrilling heavyweight bout, Nick Campbell (5-0, 5 KOs) captured the vacant Scottish title with a seventh round knockout of Jay McFarlane (12-6, 5 KOs). In the seventh, Campbell put McFarlane down, and then finished him shortly after that. Fight was halted at 2:18 of the round.
- Showing off his impressive skillset, welterweight Paddy Donovan (8-0, 6 KOs) defeated Miroslav Serban (13-9, 7 KOs) by a sixth round TKO. The match had to be stopped in the sixth after Serban suffered an ear injury. The time of the stoppage cameat 0:56.
- Ebonie Jones (1-0-1) battled Eftychia Kathopouli (4-3-1) to a six round draw in women’s featherweight action. The score was 57-57.
- Super middleweight prospect John Docherty (12-1, 9 KOs) defeated Jordan Grant (4-2) by a 2nd round TKO. Grant was put down hard from a left to the body from Docherty. The match was then stopped at the 2:49 mark.
