For Josh Taylor that long-awaited Jack Catterall rematch is now very personal – because other people made it personal.
The ‘Tartan Tornado’ claims his family suffered shocking abuse in the aftermath of his first fight vs Catterall – one he won by hotly disputed split decision back in February 2022 in Glasgow.
Now the rematch is set for April 27 in Leeds (live on DAZN), and the build-up kicked off (quite literally) with a raucous press conference in Edinburgh on Monday.
READ MORE: Catterall aims first jab at Taylor – ‘he didn’t look too clever’
The controversy after their first meeting raged for weeks, and the bad blood remains. But for Taylor (19-1) it is not just about the man in the opposite corner. It runs much deeper than that.
He explained: “It wasn’t about me getting the abuse but my family getting it, some guys in the media like talkSPORT started mentioning corruption and all that sort of stuff, that’s when the nature of the abuse changed.
Josh Taylor on shocking abuse
“It was threats to my wife, her business address got put online, threats of violence and my little sister was getting it too. I kept my mouth shut after the fight for a couple of months. I said a couple of things back to a couple of people and suddenly, I’m the asshole. You can’t win. But when the family start getting involved, it’s a different kettle of fish, say what you want to me all day long, but when it’s family, it’s out of order. “
Taylor openly admits he was way below par in that first fight – so much so that he refuses to watch it back. He is not overly impressed though by what Catterall (28-1) brings to the table.
“I’ve not really watched the first fight because I know I was so crap, it was unbelievable, it wasn’t me. I’ve watched Jack a few times in other fights, and he doesn’t do anything different in any of his fights.
“So, I know what to expect, if he wants to come and fight this time, great, because then hopefully we don’t get a referee that allows the constant holding and spoiling, slowing the pace down and all that. Because that ruined it the last time. We were on the floor, we fell three or four times, and it was a crap fight for people to watch.”
Not about money for ‘Tartan Tornado’
The 33-year-old Taylor doesn’t need the money this fight brings and he will already go down as a Scottish boxing legend after unifying all of the world titles at 140lbs. The rematch with Catterall though is just an itch that he needs to scratch.
“I could retire today and have had a career one in 65 million, because I’m the only undisputed champion in the four-belt era in the UK. I could be happy, but this fight, I’m right up for. Forget titles, championships, belts, I just want to fight this guy, and I’m up for it in training and enjoying it. The ambition and hunger are there. There are bragging rights, it’s right up there and I can’t wait.”
Taylor admits he looked past Catterall before their first meeting, with all that talk of moving up to 147lbs and even bigger and better things. A mistake he says he will not make again.
“After the Jose Ramirez fight there was talks of moving up to welterweight and becoming a two-weight world champion, facing Terence Crawford and that kind of stuff, and I was excited by that and up for it, instead of looking at what was right in front of me, the threat that was right there, that was a mistake I made and I won’t be doing that again for sure.
