Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall scoring to be investigated by British Boxing Board

Scotland’s Taylor retained his super-lightweight titles with a controversial split-decision win in Glasgow

Jack Catterall (right) reacts to his points defeat by Josh Taylor (Action Images via Reuters)

The British Boxing Board of Control will investigate the scoring of Josh Taylor’s title defence against Jack Catterall, it has confirmed.

Scotland’s Taylor retained his super-lightweight belts on Saturday with a controversial split-decision win against his English challenger in Glasgow.

Despite the statistics heavily favouring Catterall, it was Taylor who emerged the winner with 113-112 and 114-111 scorecards in his favour – with the third judge scoring the bout 113-112 to Catterall.

Victor Loughlin was the judge to score the bout 113-112 to Taylor, while Ian John-Lewis produced the most controversial scorecard of 114-111 in favour of the Scot. Howard Foster was the only judge who favoured Catterall.

A number of boxers and pundits have joined fans in condemning the result, which saw 31-year-old Taylor remain unbeaten at 19-0 (13 knockouts).

Catterall (26-1, 13 KOs), meanwhile, saw his undefeated run end with the loss.

“You know what hurts the most?” the Chorley fighter wrote on Instagram on Sunday. “It wasn’t for me. I done all of this for my family, my team, my town and country. My baby girl and Mrs, our future.

“Today I should have been waking up with all of the belts. Fifteen months out the ring, they all wrote me off. F****d me in every way possible for over two years, finally got the fight.

“Sacrificed everything to fight one of the top [pound-for-pound] ranked fighters, gave him a lesson.

“For what? Judges... Dreams stolen.”

Catterall had last fought in November 2020 before his bout with Taylor, stepping aside – without monetary compensation, he said – to allow the Scot to unify all the belts last May. Taylor did so by outpointing Jose Carlos Ramirez in Las Vegas.

The 31-year-old is now expected to move up to welterweight, potentially vacating the super-lightweight titles in the process.