By Mark Eisner: Undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs) survived a scare in winning a 12 round split decision against his previously unbeaten WBO mandatory challenger Jack Catterall (26-1, 13 KOs) on Saturday night at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.

(Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank via Getty Images)

The judges scored it 114-111, 113-112 for Taylor, and 113-112 for Catterall. Boxing News 24 had Catterall, 28, edging it 113-112. He looked like the better fighter through the majority of the rounds.

In the eighth, Catterally surprisingly dropped the 31-year-old IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Taylor.

However, an exhausted Catterall was docked a point for holding. A round later, the referee penalized Taylor for hitting after the bell.

Undercard results:

Two-time Olympic Cuban gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez (9-1, 5 KOs) stopped the 36-year-old Eric Donovan (14-2, 8 KOs) in the third round in featherweight action in the chief support bout. Robeisy, 28, dropped Donovan in the first round with a beautiful counter left hook to the head. In the third round, Robeisy hurt Donovan with a big shot that staggered him badly, resulting in the referee Victor Loughlin stepping in to halt the bout. The time of the stoppage was 1:04 of the third. The victory for Robeisy was his ninth straight since losing the first bout of his career by a four round split decision to Adan Gonzales in August 2019. Robeisy later avenged his loss to Gonzales, blanking him by a one-sided six round unanimous decision in July 2020.
Nick Campbell (5-0, 5 KOs) battled hard to stop Jay McFarlane (12-6, 5 KOs) by a seventh round to capture the vacant Scottish heavyweight title. After struggling with the heavyset McFarlane through six, Campbell came alive in the seventh round in knocking down McFarlane. Moments later, the contest was halted by the referee. The time of the stoppage was at 2:18 of round seven.
Undefeated welterweight Paddy Donovan (8-0, 6 KOs) stopped Czech journeyman Miroslav Serban (13-9, 7 KOs) in the sixth round of a scheduled six round bout. The contest was halted in the sixth when the 31-year-old Serban suffered an ear injury. The time of the stoppage was 0:56.
Female featherweight prospect Ebonie Jones (1-0-1) fought to a six round draw against Eftychia Kathopouli (4-3-1). The score was 57-57.
Super middleweight prospect John Docherty (12-1, 9 KOs) stopped the always tough Jordan Grant (4-2) in the second round. Docherty dropped Grant hard a hard left-hand body shot. The contest was then halted at 2:49 of the second round. The heavy-handed Grant, 24, gave cruiserweight Tommy Fury a lot of problems last year in losing a four round points decision. In that fight, Grant showed off better power than Fury and landed the cleaner shots. Tonight, however, wasn’t Grant’s night.

Preview:

“I can’t see how he beats me,” said Taylor to iFL TV on Catterall.

“I’m not too fussed with being famous. I don’t know who in their right mind wants to be famous, in my personal opinion,” said Josh Taylor to Intu Boxing. “I’m fine with being under the radar.

“I like my quiet life. I’m a down-to-earth guy. I’m just the best at what I do. There’s nothing more and nothing less to it,” Taylor continued.

“I’ve got this platform Sky Sports and across the pond, ESPN, backing me, building my profile and taking my profile to the next level. So it can only be a good thing for me, yeah.

“He’s nervous, it’s nervous energy,” said Taylor about his belief that Catterall is nervous. “A couple of days now and now we’re hours away from getting in the ring in a big fight, a massive fight. So you can tell he’s a little bit nervous.

“To be disregarded, I thought was disrespectful,” said Taylor. “No one has ever done what I did in British boxing.

“A Josh Taylor win. It’s a long night for Jack. He’s going to get outboxed, out-thought in there as well. I’m going to be two or three steps ahead of him the whole way.

“If to goes the distance, it’s going to be a long painful night because he’s going to wake up sore on Sunday morning,” said Taylor in predicting the outcome for Catterall.

“I never really had the chance to reflect on my career until the lockdowns, and then I came back from Vegas. In Scotland, it was still quite restricted. I couldn’t go out and go to restaurants and things like that.

“I was still relatively closed off. The pubs were open but it was all social distance stuff and all that.

“I was sitting at home, having to isolate myself for a few days after I got back. So, I got a chance to reflect. I never get the chance to do it because I’m always tuned in on what’s happening next. My whole career has been one after the next one.

“After that, I got a little bit of time to sit back at the belts on the wall and gone, ‘You’ve done okay from where you started. I’ve done good, I’ve done alright.’

Undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor defends his titles tonight against the eager upset-minded Jack Catterall (26-0, 13 KOs) at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. The card will be streamed live on ESPN+ in the U.S beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET.

This is a chance of a lifetime opportunity for #1 WBO Catterall, and he’s going to make the most of it. Catterall, 28, has been counted out by many boxing fans going into tonight’s contest, and he wants to show people that’s more than good enough to defeat Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs).