Josh Taylor retains titles after controversial win over Jack Catterall

Boxing’s endless capacity for controversy and drama resurfaced again late on Saturday night in Glasgow when Josh Taylor was awarded a shocking split-decision victory over Jack Catterall and retained all his world super-lightweight titles. But the undisputed nature of his championship reign has been ruined by an absurd decision. Amid uproar and fierce dissent each fighter was judged to have won by a score of 113-112 while the third official thought Taylor had won by a scarcely credible 114-111.

Catterall knocked Taylor down heavily in round eight and he was clearly the better boxer. The bruised and cut state of the fortunate champion’s face told a very different story to the scorecards even though Taylor insisted that he had done enough to win the decision. An understandably distraught Catterall immediately left the ring in disgust as another dubious decision stained the already tarnished reputation of British officiating.

With both men fighting out of a southpaw stance it was an often messy and even ugly scrap and the referee Marcus McDonnell deducted a point from each fighter. He also warned Catterall and Taylor repeatedly for the roughhouse nature of their brawl – but most of the clean and precise work was done by the impressive Catterall.

The opening round was cagey but Catterall landed the first meaningful blow when a straight left tagged Taylor and rocked his head back. There was little sign of nerves from the challenger as he dominated the early rounds behind his sharp jab and crisp combinations. Taylor tried to close the distance but Catterall kept hurting him – as he did again in the fifth round when a sweet left hand was immediately followed by a crunching right. Blood seeped down the champion’s face from a cut