Catterall digs deep, beats Taylor in grueling rematch

Cheavon Clarke and Paddy Donovan picked up stoppage wins on the undercard

The controversy of Jack Catterall’s and Josh Taylor’s first meeting overshadowed the fact that it wasn’t particularly watchable. That wasn’t the case this time, as Catterall and Josh Taylor put on 12 excellent rounds of back-and-forth action before “El Gato” walked away with the unanimous decision.

Save for a solid third round that saw Taylor (19-2, 13 KO) land some heavy body shots, Catterall’s (29-1, 13 KO) jab and movement controlled the first half of the bout, punishing Taylor’s lack of head movement and muzzling his offense. He wasn’t throwing pitter-pat shots, either; there was genuine venom there, including some impressively lengthy combinations.

Things took an abrupt turn in the seventh, however, when Catterall seemed to run out of steam all at once. Taylor took full advantage, continuing to punish the body as Catterall began leaning more and more on the clinch to stay out of trouble. “The Tartan Tornado” had a full head of steam going into the championship rounds and dominated the first half of the eleventh, but shortly after the referee broke them up to chide them for dirty clinch tactics, Catterall rocked Taylor to his core with a counter left eerily reminiscent of Junto Nakatani’s monster knockout of Andrew Moloney.

Taylor managed to survive thanks to a fortunate tumble after tying up and had an argument for the following round, but the damage was already done. Catterall walked away with two 117-111’s and a 116-113. Bad Left Hook had it 116-112 for Catterall, though I did give him all three swing rounds and struggle to see where the judges found a ninth round to give him.

Bob Arum took the mic afterwards to call the scorecards “ridiculous.” Matchroom posted them almost immediately after the verdict, so you can make your own determination.

Eddie Hearn eagerly listed off the numerous matchups, like Subriel Matias, available for Catterall now that this saga is presumably finished. Taylor, though convinced that he’d just edged out the fight, seemed accepting of Catterall moving on to bigger fights.

Clarke overcomes slow start to finish Zorro

Team GB’s Cheavon Clarke had what a learning experience against the unexpectedly tricky Ellis Zorro, but powered through to score both the British cruiserweight title and his second knockout of 2024.

Most saw Zorro (17-2, 7 KO) as cannon fodder after last November’s knockout loss to Jai Opetaia, but he did a remarkably solid job of neutralizing Clarke (9-0, 7 KO) in the early rounds through a mix of tight punching, good defense, and regular clinches. To Clarke’s credit, he steadily adjusted, dialing in his heavy right hand and refusing to be manhandled inside.

Late in the eighth, Clarke finally found his chin with a chopping right that sent Zorro staggering back to the ropes. Clarke followed with a vicious barrage and Zorro went down in a heap right at the bell

It was a painfully unwatchable fight for the most part, but Clarke proved that he can handle a spoiler. Probably still best to have one or two more domestic showdowns before going for the world title; the winner of Jack Massey vs Isaac Chamberlain next month seems like a good next step assuming Chamberlain doesn’t bail at the last minute again.

Donovan puts Ritson away with late surge

It took him a while to settle in, but Irish welterweight hopeful Paddy Donovan kept his undefeated record intact with a ninth-round finish of fading veteran Lewis Ritson.

Donovan (14-0, 11 KO) leaned on a stick-and-move strategy for much of the fight as Ritson (23-4, 13 KO) plodded forward behind a high guard, showing off solid footwork and pivots to avoid getting cornered. When Ritson started finding the mark with body shots and avoiding Donovan’s big counter lefts, Donovan retook control by dialing back the power, occupying Ritson’s guard with prodding arm punches and staying light on his feet to outmaneuver him.

Ritson kept moving forward, however, and kept things competitive in the sixth and seventh with heavy body shots as Donovan’s combinations bounced off. In response, Donovan switched gears and put Ritson on the back foot with nonstop barrages of power punches, leaving Ritson with little choice but to shell up and look for the occasional Hail Mary bomb.

With the damage piling up and Ritson’s responses getting fewer and farther between, the ref stepped in to call a halt 32 seconds into the ninth.

A lot of the ingredients are there, particularly the movement, but Andy Lee still has some work to do if he wants to turn Donovan into a genuine contender. It shouldn’t have taken that long or that many clean shots to put down an undersized, past-it veteran like Ritson, who had a worrying amount of success just stepping into the pocket and ripping full-force body shots until Donovan tied up or disengaged.

Still, even if his ceiling doesn’t look as high as the Irish hopeful might like, “The Real Deal” is only 25. No need to rush things.

More results

• Gary Cully UD-12 Francesco Patera (98-92, 96-94 x2)
• Giorgio Visioli KO-4 Sergio Odabai (1:47)