Via Charles Brun: Former WBA lightweight champion Regis Prograis is picking undisputed 140 lb champion Josh Taylor to beat his WBO mandatory challenger Jack Catterall this Saturday night at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.
Like many, Prograis says he doesn’t know much about WBO-ranked No. 1 contender Catterall (26-0, 13 KOs), but he’s been told he won’t be the promoter. push Taylor on Saturday night.
If Catterall fights against notable opposition, fans will know who he is and get excited about this fight.
Sadly, Catterall is clinching the title against Taylor based on his wins over domestic boxers Ohara Davies and Tyrone McKenna. In an ideal world, Catterall would have beaten one or two of these talents to win the title against Taylor:
- Subriel Matias
- Jose Ramirez
- Regis Prograis
- Jose Zepeda
- Shakhram Giyasov
- Arnold Barboza
- Teofimo Lopez
The question is, will Catterall beat ANY of the gladiators on my roster? I’d say it’s NO, which is why it’s so disappointing that Catterall is a mandatory WBO, and a complete waste of Josh Taylor’s career defending his strap against him.
Taylor should have dropped his WBO strap and moved up to 147 as he said he wanted to do or focus on facing talented fighters like Zepeda, Prograis, Ramirez, Matias, Giyasov, Teofimo and Barbosa.
Prograis chooses Taylor to defeat Catterall
“I have Josh. I think he’s one step ahead now. He is right now,” Regis Prograis told iFL TV on Josh Taylor about his fight with Catterall. “Of course, his resume speaks for itself.
“I don’t know too much about Jack Catterall. I talk to people who say, ‘This guy is not a pushover. This will not be an easy fight for Josh. This will be an uphill battle for him. It won’t be a walk in the park. ‘
“I still think Josh will be able to win because he is right now, and he has his eye on the 147 lb division with big fights against Crawford or whoever he wants to fight.
“I’ll give Josh Taylor points. If it happens, it will happen,” Prograis said when asked if he would mind fighting for an empty title.
Taylor confidently beat Catterall
“I am very confident in winning this match. I know I will winput your hands down,” Josh Taylor said to Sky Sports News.
“I found him a bit lacking in confidence. You can’t lose too much from it but it lets him know that I believe I’m the better fighter.
“It will be nothing but a Josh Taylor win. I know I can ignore him, fight him. I feel like I did better than him in every aspect of the game. ”
There’s no question that Taylor will beat Catterall, and I don’t know why it would even be a point of discussion for him. If Taylor were to play against someone as good as Prograis, Matias, Zepeda, Ramirez or Giyasov, then whether he would win or not would be a matter of more discussion.
But when you talk about a boxer like Catterall, with his résumé full of objections, academics that Taylor is going to win.
It’s a shame that Taylor has set himself such a low threshold by failing to achieve the kind of feeble resistance he is facing.
Adam Smith: Josh Taylor could be a ‘superstar’
“I believe Josh can become a superstar in this sportand I believe he’s a real character,” Sky Sports’ Adam Smith told Secondsout. “It is wonderful that he is back in Scotland. Smith said.
What worked against Josh Taylor in realizing Adam Smith’s vision of becoming a “superstar” was a number of things.
- Not often fighting. Taylor has only fought once a year since 2020, and he’s not viewed nearly enough to be a superstar. For Taylor to become a star like the British boxers before, he needs to fight at least three to four times a year to create the vision. He will NOT be an annual battle star with the likes of Catterall and Apinun Khongsong.
- Facing fewer objections. With Taylor’s age [31], he should fight the best opponents he can every time he comes out than waste his career against lesser-known fighters like Catterall and Khongsong. Those guys would be fine if Taylor was in her 20s and just starting her career, but not at 31. It’s stupid for Taylor to waste her time in the face of obscure opposition. nothing to do with his career.
- Skip the headlines and focus on quality opposithe. If Taylor’s reason for constantly fighting lesser fighters like Khongsong and Catterall is that they are his must-have opponents, then he needs to give up those titles and hold on to a rope so that he can focus on fighting the best fighters instead of competitors who have no business vying for titles. You could argue that Catterall and Khongsong should never have been the required challengers because of their lack of talent, charisma and name recognition. Taylor should fight the likes of Prograis, Jose Zepeda, Subriel Matias and Shakhram Giyasov
Smith said of Taylor: “I think we’re going to get some really good numbers because everybody wants to see him. “Let’s not forget Jack Catterall here, who is unbeaten and has a big chance.
“He will give anything to try and take the light treasure from Josh. So Jack is not without a chance, and Josh will have to give it his all.
“I think there are special warriors for him [Josh]. One of them is Terence Crawford. He told me he really wanted to fight in the UK. So there are great things ahead for Josh. He’s in a really good weight division, and he can train and try to be a champion in the welterweight division.
“I think this is an opportunity to see what he has and I really hope that if he gets past Jack Catterall he will keep busy and we will use our platform. [Sky] to make Josh the crossover star he deserves to be. He’s got talent, he’s capable and if he keeps his focus and unwavering faith, he can go a long way.
“I think we’re a little late looking for him, but we’ll get him at a time when we still have time to make a difference for him and hopefully give him a chance,” Smith said. him a long period of 3 or 4 years. Josh Taylor is 31 years old.
If Taylor wants to be daring, he can go up to 147 and chase Terence Crawford, but I don’t think he’ll do it. Taylor has talked about wanting to rise to 147 to challenge Crawford since 2019, and he STILL hasn’t. What does that tell you?
Taylor is good at talking about the things he wants to do ‘one of these days’, but he doesn’t act. He talks and seems to be lost in fascination without acting.
Next year, we’ll likely see Taylor in a similar situation, fighting obscurely in Khongsong and Catterall’s classes while talking about wanting to move up to 147 one of these days.
