Josh Taylor showed 'his champion mentality' against Jack Catterall, says Todd duBoef

Josh Taylor ‘showed his champion mentality’ by coming from behind to beat Jack Catterall on Saturday night, according to Top Rank president Todd duBoef.

The 31-year-old Scotsman found himself on the canvas for the first time in his professional career after Catterall caught him by surprise in the eighth round.

Taylor, the betting favourite, was more surprised than hurt by the fast left hook.

The three judges Howard Foster, Victor Loughlin and Ian John Lewis all scored the fight differently – 2-1 for Taylor.

Foster had it 113-112 for Catterall, Loughlin the other way round, while Lewis had Taylor winning comfortably, 114-111.

It was the 19th straight victory for Taylor, who turned pro shortly after winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Speaking exclusively to GIVEMESPORT, DuBoef said: “I mean I think the knockdown was one thing, but I felt he started coming on in the late rounds, and in the back half of the fight I thought he started just getting into his gameplan.

“He started not letting him tie him up so much, being the aggressor, pushing him back, and that’s when he really did start getting back into it.

“Josh showed his champion mentality coming back in the way that he did. It was very impressive. But he did dig a hole for himself.

“It was a horrible, sloppy fight to score. You had points taken here, points taken there. It was a very difficult fight to score.

“But I think at the end of the day, he got it done.”

After the fight, Taylor made it clear that he will move up to welterweight to challenge either Terence Crawford or Errol Spence Jr.

But DuBoef refused to be drawn on questions about his future as he insisted they still have plenty to work out before making a decision.

He added: “I feel like