Joshua James William Taylor vs. John Catterall - the standalone IB RBR scorecard

In the words of Excalibur - you have got to give the people what they want.

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Joshua James William Taylor vs. John Catterall, 12 rounds @ super lightweight

(Taylor's fourth defense of the IBF, first each of the WBC & WBO, and third each of the Ring Magazine and WBA titles)

 

Round 1

10-9 Catterall, consistent with the overwhelming majority of RBR fan scorecards here on boxingforum24 and on the aggregator Eyeonthering.

Best shot for either man was a wake-up left hand for Jack a minute in (Josh's most direct hits were rabbit punches, drilling into the nape)

Otherwise a bit messy and scrappy, both settling in, nervy and jumpy, feigning jabs and then falling in with misses and grappling.

Pretty straightforward round to score. No blowout, but clear Catterall.

ESPN stats:
Taylor 4 of 14, 29%
Catterall 6 of 25, 24%

 

Round 2

TTT holding and hitting again, more flagrantly premeditated now. Ref gives him a stern warning to channel that mean streak into more within-the-bounds manoeuvres.

10-9 Taylor, close, 19-19

Here we have the first major divergence among fans, both BF24 and EOTR. A large minority picked Catterall, and he did do good work with the jab and located lefts well on the button behind them from outside, but Taylor touching him up too much - and not just with fouls. Lots of hefty body shots for the champ, and he's beginning to close the jabbing gap. Not quite, but enough to allow his heavier blows to carry the day here overall.

ESPN stats:
Taylor 13 of 45, 29%
Catterall 15 of 54, 28%

 

Round 3

Catterall is jabbing into the forearms of Taylor and using his elbow to brace him off. Both are sliding their jabs past the rear of the head and neck as they repeatedly dive into headlocks and waist grabs by turn. Very little in this, another close and ugly one in which neither got much clean effective work done, mostly just negating each other. Catterall got in a couple of lefts landing legally, more than Taylor whose power connects came mostly on the buttocks or between the shoulder blades, but a few get in late for Taylor, powerfully enough to have offset Catterall's weaker fare.

BF24 went mostly for Catterall, while EOTR was split about 50-50.

10-9 Taylor, very tight

29-28 Taylor

 

Round 4

10-9 Catterall, close

38-38

It's the Catterall one-two versus Taylor's left uppercut downstairs. Both weapons being utilized successfully in the fourth, slightly less of an eyesore and chore to watch than its predecessors so far. I really hope this shift in direction is a sign of what's to come and not aberrant.

Catterall just a bit busier and able to score consecutively, cleanly, more consistently. Taylor getting in shots but always buttressed by fouls or tangle-ups. This place was divided but favored Catterall; nearly everyone at EOTR went his way.

 

Round 5

Catterall is having a fantastic spell here, turning his upper body and making Taylor miss, then making him pay. Straight lefts and right hooks scoring well for Catterall. Taylor has a mouse under his right eye and is forced to cede ground for the first time, and ties up when bullied into the ropes. Several jabs by Catterall, with Taylor slipping a few but getting tagged by the rest.

10-9 Catterall

48-47 Catterall

Most decisive round yet, by far. First one to be unanimous everywhere; I don't think anyone saw it another way, or could.

ESPN stats through five:
Taylor 35 of 140, 25%
Catterall 56 of 228, 25%

 

Round 6

Catterall continues what he started in the fifth. Taylor still disrupting what he can with right jabs off the front hip, clinches (or clinch-feints), and roundhouse kidney punches Catterall overextends himself bending in with combinations, but there's a big edge in clean scoring for the challenger and he's the very obvious and dominant ring general at the moment.

10-9 Catterall, again very clear - a quick peek reveals that again, nobody awarded this one to Josh anywhere.

58-56 Catterall

 

S.O.G. has it level, 57-all. He gave Catterall the first, fifth and sixth and Taylor the three after the opener. We differ only on the very close 4th.

Tessitore mentions on-air that live wagering has shifted to install pre-fight underdog Catterall as the new favorite.

 

Round 7

After two clear Catterall rounds on the spin, Taylor finally gets on the proverbial scoreboard with his first undeniable one. Ward painting a picture of the fight that isn't exactly reflective of what's happening, framing Catterall's counter-punching as the key element. He isn't landing them nearly as often or well as in the last two rounds however, and Taylor is bowling in some heavy left hands en route to their clinches.

10-9 Taylor

67-66 Catterall

Only a couple of people here went Catterall, and on Eye there was a small smattering plus some 10-10's. Idk, it wasn't really all that close. Maybe not as clear as Catterall's pair before it, but take away those and this is the clearest round of the fight so far.

 

Round 8

Flash knockdown by the aspirant. The undaunted titlist keeps pressing in behind a yo-yo jab and tossing overhand lefts on the frontfoot, but can't lay a glove on Catterall - at least not on any scoreable areas. Lots of back-claps. Catterall clipping him on the way in with some lead lefts and 1-2s and Taylor's swelling is worsening. Stiff body shot before the bell from TTT, best shot of the round but too little too late.

10-8 Catterall

77-74 Catterall

Not even bothering to check if anybody had it aught but 10-8 Catterall; if so they're a troll.

 

ESPN eight round power shot stats:

Taylor 4 of 15, 27%
Catterall 8 of 29, 28%

 

Andre Ward has it 76-75 for Catterall, who started out at +800 odds and is now the betting fave.