Josh Taylor's trainer fears officials will be influenced by controversial first fight in Jack Catterall rematch

Josh Taylor's trainer has called on the officials to not be influenced by the controversy in the wake of his victory over Jack Catterall ahead of their highly anticipated rematch on Saturday.

Back in February 2022, Edinburgh boxer Taylor defended his super-lightweight crown by claiming a controversial split decision win over his English rival at The Hydro in Glasgow. Catterall and his team were left livid with the performance of the judges on the night, with many high-profile figures in the world of boxing agreeing that Taylor was very lucky to hold onto his belts.

And just days before the two meet again at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, trainer Joe McInally has urged the judges not to take the contentious decision from the first bout into their scoring on the night. Speaking to Boxing Scene, he said: "That’s obviously a fear. I don’t want Josh to really leave it in the hands of the judges – I want him to be super dominant, in an ideal world. But we have got to put the uttermost faith in the British Boxing [Board of Control] applying top quality judges.

"We’ve got [judges] Kieran McCann, Mark Bates and Lee Every. Kevin Parker [is the referee]. I’m no rocket scientist, but I’m sure they wouldn’t have worked too many championship fights at this level either – same as the referee – so I think we’ve got a young panel across the board, and I hope the board has a deep conversation with them to eliminate the first fight. ‘Forget the controversy; forget this; just see the fight as you see it against two neutral, equal operators and just let it play out.’

"I just hope there isn’t any other controversy. If Jack wins, he wins fairly. If Josh wins, he wins fairly. Kudos; take your hat off; tip it to the guy, and you push on to