By Charles Brun: Undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor was not in the mood to give credit to challenger Jack Catterall after beating him by a narrow 12 round split decision last Saturday night in front of his Scottish fans at the SSE Hydro Arena in Glasgow, Scotland.

Moments after his controversial victory, Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs) remarked that he felt the fight with Catterall wasn’t the toughest of his career, and that he won’t give him a rematch because he doesn’t feel it’s necessary.

Rather than do the right thing and give Catterall (26-1, 13 KOs) a rematch, Taylor announced that he’s moving up to 147 immediately so that he can take part in the big fights that he feels he deserves.

Taylor’s popularity will be suffer

The 31-year-old Taylor’s decision not to give Catterall a rematch will ultimately diminish his popularity in the sport, as he’s now viewed as a fighter that has had two controversial decisions in his last four fights.

Also, there are a lot of boxing fans that believe that Taylor would have lost to Jose Ramirez if he hadn’t hit him with sneaky shots after they’d break. Without those sneaky shots, Taylor would have likely lost to Ramirez.

Taylor didn’t mention which fighters, if any, during his career gave him a harder fight than Catterall, but it’s likely Regis Prograis, who he beat by a 12 round majority decision in October 2019.

That was a fight that many boxing fans saw as a draw due to Prograis controlling the entire second half of the contest after discovering that Taylor was only capable of fighting on the inside.

Once Prograis tookthe fight to the outside beginning in the sixth, he picked the slower Taylor apart with precise left hands to the head.

The judge’s scores:

114-111 – Taylor
113-112 – Taylor
113-112 – Catterall

Charles Brun’s score: Catterall 114-111.

“Definitely not, no. I didn’t think it was that tough, to be honest. I don’t see how he won by three or four rounds, I thought I won,” said an agitated-looking Josh Taylor at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night.

Adam Smith: Catterall was robbed

“It was a terrible decision. I thought Catterall was robbed and it was a real shame after a fantastic performance from Catterall,” said Adam Smith of Sky Sports to iFL TV in reaching to Josh Taylor’s win over Catterall.

“Josh put everything in it but he didn’t flow. Maybe a lot of frustrations and problems with the weight,” Adam stated. “I thought Jack Catterall boxed beautifully, especially in the first half of the fight.

“Yeah, Josh Taylor could have nicked three or four of the rounds, no question, but I don’t remember a fight result where everybody around us at ringside thought exactly the same thing.

“However, you score it, whether it’s 3, 4, 5, or 6, Jack Catterall should have been the undisputed unified champion,” said Smith. “It was a phenomenal performance. He stepped up in levels, and it wasn’t Josh’s night.

“I’m a massive Josh Taylor fan, I think Josh is a fantastic fighter, but for me, it was a terrible result, and it’s a real shame.

“I think he should move up. I think that was evident on the scales, and the performance tonight. He really didn’t get going. It’s not the Josh Taylor we know, but don’t take anything away from Jack Catterall.

“[Promoter] Ben Shalom said there will be an inquest to this. I think everyone at ringside, I didn’t find anyone that didn’t think it was a robbery or a very, very bad decision.

“I just think it’s a real shame, and I’d like to talk with the judges to see why they got it like that. We’re unofficial, it’s the judges that matter, and as I said, I really feel for Jack Catterall, Jamie Moore, and the team,” said Smith.