Jack Catterall should arguably be sitting pretty sitting pretty as the king pin of the super-lightweight division following his February undisputed showdown with Josh Taylor. A very controversial split descion against him saw him come away with nothing but plaudits but no belts and the undisputed title. Politics has seen Josh Taylor vacate the WBC, IBF and WBA world titles which will see Catterall only contest the WBO world title and the Ring Magazine strap.
It is not uncommon for fighters make knee jerk reactions such as changing trainers, new promoters etc however it has been status quo for Catteral other than signing a promotional deal with Boxxer. That is in contrast with Taylor who in recent weeks has moved onto the third trainer of his career with Joe McNally of Liverpool. Joe is a fledging coach who works with Liam Smith and is arguably one of the best amateur coaches of his generation with his work with the famous Rotunda boxing gym.
Jack is completely focused on a slated rematch with Taylor which is potentially slated for February and believes despite the switch for Taylor, it wont be enough time to implement any drastic changes to Taylor’s style.
“I don’t know Joe McNally personally but Josh has been in there a matter of weeks now and the fight is 12-14 weeks away. I don’t know if you can change somebody who’s boxed a certain way, over a long period like Josh has. In my opinion, you would need a few fights to get settled with new methods. When I joined Jamie [Moore], it took me three or four fights before I was able to embed the things I’ve been working on. I don’t think Joe can change him overnight. It will be interesting,” Catterall told BetFred.
There are a lot of expectations for the rematch, but Catterall is not feeling any pressure to showcase his skills for a second time.
“Nothing’s really changed apart from more eyes being on the fight. I’m very grateful for that and I’ve had a lot of support since the last fight, but I keep myself grounded as I’ve got a great team, a great family and great friends around me. They will keep me where I need to be. Ultimately, the fight is going to grow in exposure and that’s a good thing for me. Hopefully everybody can see me become world champion,” Catterall said.
