With Julio Cesar Martinez vs McWilliams Arroyo off the table for good, boxing needed another truly cursed matchup to take its place. It looks like that’s Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall 2, as the April 27th showdown has been pushed back to May 25th after “The Tartan Tornado” suffered an undisclosed injury.
Mike Coppinger broke the news earlier today, while Catterall (28-1, 13 KO) himself confirmed it hours later. Per DAZN’s announcement, Ja’Rico O’Quinn vs. Peter McGrail 2 is still on for that date.
Not counting the many months Taylor (19-1, 13 KO) spent refusing to even humor the notion of rematching Catterall, who beat him in the eyes of virtually every viewer save two ringside judges, this marks the third postponement. Sky Sports initially pushed it from February 2023 to March in order to make some space between it and Chris Eubank Jr. vs Liam Smith, then Taylor pulled out with an injured foot and fought Teofimo Lopez instead.
Catterall should really just tell him to pound sand at this point. Taylor’s stock is at an all-time low after dumping his belts and beefing it against “The Takeover;” Catterall would be better-served capitalizing on his myriad top-five rankings to work his way towards another title shot.
The sunk cost fallacy may be at play, though, as Catterall already turned down an IBF final eliminator against Richardson Hitchins to make the rematch happen. Let’s hope this proves the last delay and we can all move on with our lives.