JACK CATTERALL insists that emotion will not play a factor in his rematch against Josh Taylor on Saturday night (May 25) in Leeds.
The two super-lightweights meet at the First Direct Arena over two years since one of the most talked about judges’ decisions in recent years. On that February night in Glasgow, Taylor was given the nod by split decision. The fallout was highly charged, raw and involved a lot of angry exchanges from both parties online.
Catterall and Taylor’s disdain for one another surfaced again during two recent press conferences in Edinburgh and Manchester to promote the fight. The Englishman told Boxing News, however, that emotion will not take over in the ring on Saturday and affect his performance.
“I don’t fight with emotion,” Catterall said. “[I’m] very calculated and very switched on. That being said, there has been an emotional build-up. High emotions, a lot of things said, but you’ve got to learn to compartmentalize them, fight with intelligence, and not let emotions affect your performance.”
Catterall, 28-1 (13 KOs), has barely put a foot wrong in his two fights since then against Darragh Foley and Jorge Linares, respectively. Matchroom, who promote Catterall, holds many of the aces in the super-lightweight division, and the 30-year-old can be sure of another big fight in the future should he beat Taylor. However, should ‘El Gato’ emerge victorious and the rematch be a far more fan-friendly encounter than the first, then a trilogy bout could be another option for him.
“I think that’s all down to the broadcasters, down to DAZN and Matchroom,” Catterall said.
“If they deem it’s been an explosive, powerful fight then we run it again, we do a trilogy but right now I’m focused on beating him [on] Saturday. I want to close that chapter and not talk about Josh again.”