Josh Taylor’s promoter, Bob Arum, threw a hissy fit in response to his fighter’s 12-round unanimous decision loss to Jack Catterall in their rematch in a light welterweight fight on Saturday night in Leeds, England.
Bob’s Meltdown
When the judges’ scores of 117-111, 116-113, and 117-111 were announced, Arum seemed to snap, throwing a tantrum, saying: “Those scorecards were a disgrace, an absolute disgrace.
“I will never, ever allow an American fighter to come here with the British Board scoring the fight.”
It was hilarious looking at Catterall and British promoter Eddie Hearn standing behind Arum, grinning while he was sounding off.
They seemed to enjoy the spectacle, especially when Arum got to the part where he said, “I will never ever allow an American fighter to come over here with the British Board scoring the fight.”
Arum seemed lost to the reality of what others had seen tonight, with Catterall dominating Taylor, who couldn’t do anything and was getting picked apart in every round.
The scores obviously were a little wide in Catterall’s favor, but it was hard to give Taylor more than a round or two because he was getting his head boxed off the entire fight.
The fact is, Catterall put on a masterclass performance tonight, dominating the inept-looking 33-year-old Josh Taylor, who looked utterly shot, even worse than in his previous fight.
Time for Arum to Face the Music
Catterall’s jab couldn’t miss the face of Taylor, hitting repeatedly all night, closing his right eye. Taylor couldn’t land anything in the fight unless he was directly on top of Catterall at point-blank range, and even then, he was missing. It was like Taylor was fighting with his eyes closed.
Catterall had Taylor looking like a novice and breezed through the first six rounds, winning five of them in the eyes of many boxing fans on social media. Arum’s comment about Taylor deserving the victory was delusional.
Arum needs to take a long, hard look at Taylor and recognize that he’s done, and he ain’t the same fighter he once was five years ago. The version of Taylor that was winning world titles and tournaments and dominating the 140-lb division is gone.
He’s shot, and Arum needs to face the truth because he’s not going to suddenly turn things around. He needs to throw Taylor overboard and focus on building the careers of some of the other talents in his stable.
