WBO light welterweight champion Josh Taylor suffered a right-foot injury, and will need to postpone his originally scheduled fight with Jack Catterall on March 4th until later.
ESPN reporter Mike Coppinger states that the 32-year-old Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs) suffered a plantar fascia tear on the right arch, and will need between six to twelve rounds to recover before he can start training camp for his rematch with Catterall (26-1, 13 KOs).
The Scottish fighter Taylor’s injury is going to mess up not only his plans but also Catterall because he’s already been waiting 11 months for his rematch.
With the possible six or seven months that Taylor is going to need to come back from this physical ailment, Catterall will have been out of the ring for close to 18 months. In that time, the 29-year-old Catterall could have squeezed in three fights, and made nice money.
When Catterall finally does get the chance to face Taylor in their rematch, the money that Jack will get won’t mean as much when you factor in that he could have fought three times during his wait time.
Taylor defeated Catterally by a very controversial decision last February in front of his Scottish fans in Glasgow. At the time, Taylor was still the undisputed light welterweight champion.
Had Catterall been given the victory, it would have been a huge boost for his career, opening up opportunities for lucrative fights against the likes of Teofimo Lopez, Ryan Garcia, and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
Instead of getting the win, Catterall lost the fight by a 12 round split decision, and the worst cut of all was that he’s had to wait so long for the rematch with Taylor.
Last year, Taylor vacated his IBF, WBA & WBC belts, leaving him with only the WBO strap, which means that Catterall has less incentive to fight him again, aside from having the chance to prove that he’s the better man and hope the judges don’t give him another bad deal.
Josh was supposed to move up to 147 after his fight with Catterall to go after the big dogs in that division, but he decided to stay at 140 for the rematch after dealing with the huge backlash from his questionable win.
Catterall should consider taking a tune-up fight so that he can stay sharp while waiting for Taylor to return to the ring in July or August.
