Josh Taylor was certainly scared to see his welterweight belts slip away from him on Saturday in front of Jack Catterall, but the judges decided otherwise.
Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs) retained his WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO titles ahead of his mandatory WBO challenger with a controversial split decision.
Catterall (26-1, 13 KOs) seemed to have the perfect game plan to topple the champion and he proved it in the first eight rounds. While Taylor was unable to touch him as he advanced, Catterall responded with precise combinations that staggered his rival. The champion also fell to the mat in the eighth round after two left hooks.
As he must have felt the fight escaping him, Taylor opened the machine thereafter which gave tight confrontations until the sound of the last bell.
The referee took a point from each of the boxers at the end of the fight. Catterall received the deduction for holding in the 10th round, but Taylor was faulted for a hit after the bell in the next round.
When the judges were announced, and to the dismay of many, the scores were 113-112 in favor of Catterall, but Taylor had the favor of the judges 114-111 and 113-112 to finish with the celebrations in front of his supporters in Glasgow.
