JACK CATTERALL and his trainer Jamie Moore have given their verdict on who will win Saturday’s super-lightweight championship fight between Josh Taylor and Teofimo Lopez.
Ten days ago, it was a return to winning ways for Catterall when he reminded everybody of his skillset against Darragh Foley in Manchester. The 29-year-old earned a unanimous decision victory and keeps him in the running to face Matchroom stable-mate Regis Prograis later this year.
Beating the Australian-based Irishman gave Catterall his 27th win from 28 contests. However, both he and Moore will firmly agree the record should read 28 and 0. In February 2022 Catterall pushed Josh Taylor to the absolute limit in Glasgow and despite an overwhelming feeling from fans and professionals that he had done enough to win the scorecards read 113-112, 114-113, 113-112 in the Scot’s favour. Fifteen months from that controversial night both he and Moore were good enough to give their predictions to Boxing News for Saturday’s fight.
“Interesting fight,” Catterall remarked.
“Really hard for me to call. Lopez didn’t look great when he stepped up to 140. That fight [against Sandor Martin] was a bit underwhelming. Taylor’s last fight, yeah, I didn’t think he won that!
“Then we’re looking at the injuries that he’s sustained (Taylor) throughout training with his new team, how he’s overcome them injuries. I think there’s a lot riding on it.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Taylor ran through him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lopez had regrouped. He can cause Taylor an awful lot of problems. I’m really on the fence. I’ll be watching and we’ll see what we make of it.”
Moore, a former pro who won British and European super-welterweight titles and had an unforgettable war against Matthew Macklin, is now regarded as one of the best coaches in the UK.
The 44-year-old would have studied Taylor intently for the Catterall fight and picked up on strengths and any weaknesses.
“I think it’s a great fight,” he told BN.
“I think Lopez coming up will probably be the difference. I think Taylor looks healthy. People have been talking about him having to move up, obviously he’s real tight at the weight. I’ve seen stuff on social media [where] he looks healthy.
“I think it’ll be nip and tuck, but I reckon by the time you get to round seven and eight Josh’s size will be the difference and I think he’ll take over in that last third of the fight. I wouldn’t be surprised if he stops him late because he’s got that intense pressure when he gets in his mode, but I’d be more likely to say points.”
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