Josh Taylor admits he underperformed and 'put too much pressure on himself' but insists he won the fight

The 31-year-old from Prestonpans insisted he deserved to retain his unified light-welterweight title after a split decision verdict went his way against English challenger Jack Catterall.

The decision of the three judges to give Taylor the edge stunned experts and the vast majority of the sell-out crowd who watched Catterall deliver the performance of his life, knocking Taylor down in the eighth round.

The Scot admitted he wasn’t anywhere near his best at the sold-out Hydro in Glasgow, where he had put himself under pressure to put on a show in front of his home fans nearly three years after his last bout in Scotland.

Taylor admitted: “It wasn’t my best performance. I put a lot of pressure on myself being heavy favourite. It showed in the first half of the fight.

“But once I got my rhythm I started to catch him with the bigger shots. I kept catching him and catching him out.

“It wasn’t my best performance, but I believe I got the win 100 per cent. But Jack did very well.

“He put up a good fight, that’s for sure. But he never won the fight and he knows he never won the fight.

“In the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh rounds and second half of the fight I started taking over. It wasn’t my best performance, but I’m moving forward.”

Asked to explain why he didn’t reach the heights expected of him against a challenger rated as a long shot by the bookies, Taylor added: “I put a lot of pressure on myself, being heavy favourite, being at home again. I put pressure on myself to put on such a good show for my home fans.

“It didn’t matter in the end. I got the good result but I know I won the fight. It was close. I let him have too much success with me loading up a little bit.

“But overall I scored the bigger shots, the better shots,