Josh Taylor retains world titles with split decision win over Jack Catterall

Scotland's Josh Taylor clung on to his status as undisputed light-welterweight world champion with a controversial split-decision victory against Jack Catterall in Glasgow.

The English challenger looked to have claimed a stunning upset by impressively outboxing the champion at a boisterous Hydro arena in his first defence of all four belts.

But two of the three judges scored in favour of Taylor — who was floored in the eighth round — in a verdict greeted with widespread disbelief.

The noise after the decision was confirmed was one of incredulity. How did Taylor escape with the belts still in his possession?

The judges' scorecards seemed almost certain to confirm the opposite — that Catterall was the new undisputed super-lightweight champion. Taylor had been dethroned in his own backyard, surely?

The questions were already forming as to why Taylor fell so far short of the lofty standards he's set in his career. Was he drained at the weight? Did he have half-an-eye on future lucrative fights?

Or maybe Catterall is far better than many realised. El Gato put in the performance of a lifetime, and will wonder how he is not now the man standing atop the light-welterweight division with all the options in the world.

But instead, Taylor survived. This was the 31-year-old's first fight on home soil since capturing his maiden world title against Ivan Baranchyk at the same venue in 2019. Since then, the Tartan Tornado has come through stern tests against Regis Prograis and Jose Ramirez to clean up the division.

Catterall, 28, played the long game to get his shot at the big time, stepping aside from his mandatory position to allow Taylor and Ramirez to have their shootout to become undisputed champion. Now in his first foray at world level,