The scoring in Saturday night’s hugely controversial world title fight between Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall will be investigated by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC).
However, the result was massively contentious, with most ex-boxers, pundits and fans all in agreement that the impressive Catterall had clearly done enough over 12 gritty rounds to earn the belts with the best performance of his career to date.
Judge Howard Foster did score the bout 113-112 in Catterall’s favour, but the other two cards on the night backed the champion, 114-111 (Ian John-Lewis) and 113-112 (Victor Loughlin).
A heartbroken Catterall afterwards lamented that his “dreams had been stolen”, while coach Jamie Moore branded the result “disgusting” and said it had made him think about potentially walking away from boxing.
Promoter Ben Shalom also called for an immediate inquest after saying he was “angry”, “shocked” and “embarrassed”, while Speaker of the House of Commons and Chorley MP Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he would speak to Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston over what he called a “disgraceful decision” and a “travesty of justice”.
A petition to crown Catterall champion has also been circulated online and reached almost 12,500 signatures at the time of writing.
The BBBoC is now “investigating the scoring of this contest and will advise accordingly”, according to a short statement released by general secretary Robert Smith on Monday.
Meanwhile, Taylor acknowledged Catterall’s fine efforts but says he believes he won the fight and is not entertaining the prospect of a rematch as he looks to make the move up to welterweight.
“I don’t think there’s any need for a rematch,” he told Sky Sports. “I think I won the fight. I won the fight by a couple of rounds. I won the fight in the second half, took over and bossed him.”
