Josh Taylor Confident That Jack Catterall Has No Advantages to Hold Over Him
It’s really not hard to tell that undisputed super lightweight champion Josh “The Tartan Tornado” Taylor (18-0, 13 KO’s) is bristling with confidence. He has good reason, too. The gritty UK pugilist ran and conquered the unforgiving gauntlet of Ivan Barancyk, Regis Prograis and Jose Carlos Ramirez to become the undisputed 140-pound champion. In his next at bat, Taylor will face the challenge of Jack “El Gato” Catterall (26-0, 13 KO’s).
UNTOUCHABLE OR NOT SO MUCH?
On the one hand, the Tartan Tornado has been extremely respectful of Catterall, who is ranked #1 (WBO), #9 (WBC) and #9 (WBA). When prodded to mentally leapfrog Catterall and forecast who he wants next, Taylor is always quick to bring the focus back to El Gato. In the champ’s eyes, Catterall is the real deal and will require his full attention. At the same time however, the Tartan Tornado doesn’t give him much of a shot at winning. This is not a personal sleight, though. The champ simply doesn’t believe that anyone has the juice to topple him at the moment.
“I’m just going to win that fight, I feel like I beat him in every department of the game! You know, obviously I need to go in there and prove it, you know on February 26, but I really do feel, the way that I am performing in the gym, there is no one beating me at the minute!”
Not only will Catterall have to contend with Taylor’s momentum, he will have to overcome his own potential ring rust. This is because his collision with the Tartan Tornado will snap a thirteen month stint of inactivity. In fact, El Gato has not laced up the gloves for a legitimized bout since his November 28, 2020 duel with Abderrazak Houya. So it will be interesting to see how Catterall responds to immediately being thrown in the deep end.
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By: Bakari Simpson
