Josh Taylor has all but confirmed that he intends to stay at super-lightweight.
The Scotland native’s next fight will see him defend his WBC, IBF & WBO world titles against Jose Zepeda. He insisted the reason he has decided to remain at 140lbs is to get the Jack Catterall rematch after Zepeda.
Josh Taylor Reveals Why He’s Staying at Super-lightweight
Speaking to The National, Taylor said: “The only reason I’m staying at the weight is to fight Jack Catterall again. All the abuse I’ve been getting, and the way Jack’s been, I just want to shut his mouth. The single reason I’m staying at the weight is to shut him and everyone else up.”
Many fans across the boxing community believe that Taylor is ‘scared’ to fight Catterall again. However, he insists that’s not the case.
“It’s frustrating. I’m not scared to fight anybody. But boxing fans are so fickle, they change like the weather. And if they didn’t have that keyboard in front of them, there’s no way they’d say it.”
Both Taylor and Catterall clashed earlier this year with the Scotland-born boxer winning via split decision. Due to how the first fight ended, Taylor has received so much abuse since the first encounter with Catterall.
Speaking to BBC Sport Scotland, Taylor said: “The morning after the fight, when I turned my phone back on, it was just commented after comment, abuse after abuse.”
“I stayed silent for a couple of weeks – then my little sister started getting it, then my fiancée Danielle. Personal attacks on their personal pages that were nothing to do with boxing.
“It’s been pretty disgusting some of the things people have been saying. It is what it is and we move forward.”
Furthermore, Taylor also shared his thoughts on how a rematch with Catterall would go down.
“I believe I will win that fight. I don’t believe he can beat me at my best. He couldn’t beat me at my worst.
“Fight him again and then move up to welterweight, but I’m not making that mistake again of looking past [the next fight] and saying ‘This is what I want to do’.
“I know that’s what I was doing wrong, I didn’t have the motivation. There will be no lack of that this time.”
Should he get through Zepeda, Taylor will be looking to prove his doubters wrong against Catterall.
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Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
