Josh Taylor, who was recently either stripped of the WBA 140 pound title or he vacated it (depending on who you choose to believe, the fighter or the organisation) may have his next fight pretty much set. And it isn’t the fight Taylor should be taking for so many reasons. Todd Duboef spoke with Sky Sports and he said the fight that is now being worked on is Taylor, still a three-belt ruler, against WBC mandatory challenger Jose Zepeda.
“Zepeda is coming off a fight of the year performance against Ivan Baranchyk and a first-round KO of Josue Vargas in October. These together have earned him the mandatory position to Josh’s WBC crown. We are working with both teams to put this fight on next.”
Okay, Zepeda is a darn good fighter, a dangerous puncher, with an exciting style, and he has, as DuBoef says, earned himself a shot. But how can a fight fan not be thinking about Jack Catterall when hearing the news of Taylor looking at another fight at 140? Didn’t Taylor – who we all KNOW lost to Catterall back in February, this despite what the official result would have you believe – say he struggled so mightily against Jack because he could barely make 140 any longer and that he was definitely moving up to 147 next? He sure did, and Taylor said a return with Catterall would only happen at welterweight.
But now Taylor, 18-1(3) – sorry, 19-0(13) – is sticking around at 140, and he is (likely) facing a guy far less deserving than Catterall. This, to put it bluntly, stinks. Catterall deserves that rematch, he knows it and deep down Taylor knows it. There are times when the sport of boxing, as much as we love it so, is guilty of operating in a wholly unfair manner.
Fellow lefty Zepeda, 35-2(27) might be able to give Taylor a real run for his money, especially if “The Tartan Tornado” (Catterall calls him by another nickname these days!) is tight at the weight. And for sure, that knockdown-filled war Zepeda had with Baranchyk back in October of 2020 was epic. But to repeat, this should not be the fight Taylor takes next. We all know who Josh should be fighting next, don’t we?