Josh Taylor’s highly anticipated rematch with Jack Catterall has reportedly been postponed.
The lineal and junior WBO welterweight championship bout had originally been scheduled for 4 February at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro. But ESPN now report that the fight has been pushed back to March due to scheduling conflicts with Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith, set to happen in the New Year.
The English fighters go head-to head on 21 January, to be screened live on Sky Sports pay-per-view. With the broadcaster also set to air Taylor’ s meeting with Catterall, it is being reported that executives weren’t keen on another big fight taking place so soon after the showdown between Eubank Jr, son of eccentric former champion Chris, and scouser Smith. It is the second time Taylor vs Catterall has been postponed after the Tartan Tornado suffered a knee injury, forcing the first fight in December 2021 to be pushed back.
The Prestonpans fighter controversially beat Catterall on a split decision back in February, retaining his 140lb crown despite being sent to the canvas by Chorley boxer in the 8th round. Taylor had planned to move up a weight division following that win, but was forced into a rethink after the public outcry over the result, instead insisting he was happy to take on catterall again in order to prove once and for all that he was capable of doing the business with no doubt over the scorecards second time around.
That meant he cavated his three of the four junior welterweight titles he held, including the IBF, WBA and WBC belts. The Scot also revealed he'd received death threats in the aftermath of the fight, with raging fans taking their response to the judges decision too far.
Speaking after the match up, Taylor said: "It wasn't my best performance, and I've put a lot of pressure on myself being heavy favourite and boxing back at home ... but once I started catching him, I believe I got the win 100 percent.
“I know I won the fight; overall I scored the bigger shots and the more meaningful shots. He put up a good fight, but he never won the fight. Second half of the fight I took control."
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