Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall RESULT: Taylor retains undisputed championship with controversial win

The silence around the OVO Hydro in Glasgow said it all. A 12,000-strong, partisan crowd had already made their peace with the fact that the man they had all come out to watch, Josh Taylor, was about to be dethroned as the undisputed super-lightweight world champion.

Jack Catterall, the unfancied but dogged Englishman, had seemingly done enough to claim all four belts having sent Taylor to the canvas for the first time in his career in an overall accomplished performance.

Two people thought otherwise, however, and they were the ones who counted, with one judge scoring it 114-111 and the other 113-112 to send it Taylor's way on a split decision. One gave it 113-112 to Catterall and even that seemed harsh on the man from Crawley who had been the dominant fighter for most of the contest.

Josh Taylor (left) defeated Jack Catterall (right) by a highly controversial decision on Saturday

Taylor was dropped and seemingly outclassed throughout the majority of the bout

Undisputed champion Taylor celebrated after retaining his collection of super-lightweight belts

Given Taylor had also been deducted a point in the 11th round, the 114-111 scorecard from Ian John Lewis was especially eye-catching and the stunned reaction within the arena told its own story.

The man from Prestonpans had raised his hand at the final bell but it seemed more in hope than expectation. When the result, then, did go in his favour, Taylor showed no sign of relief or contrition, immediately ruling out the prospect of a rematch.

'I thought I'd done enough – 100 percent,' he said. 'I started slowly as I tried to get my timing but I caught him with the bigger shots.

'He tried to spoil, he leaned in a lot and there was a clash of heads. I'm not going to lie, he caught me with a couple of good shots as well.

'It wasn't my best performance. I put a hell of a lot of pressure on myself this week with the homecoming and my first fight here in three years. There was a lot of pressure as the big favourite. But I believe I started catching him with bigger shots.

'It wasn't my best but I thought I deserved it 100 percent. He put up a good fight but he knows he didn't win the fight.'

Both fighters were deducted points throughout the bout, though Taylor's seemed more damaging having been knocked to the canvas

Taylor, speaking after the fight, insisted he believed he was '100 per cent' the deserved winner

Catterall clearly didn't agree as he stormed out of the ring immediately after the decision

That was not the take from the Catterall camp or among any neutrals in the room and beyond. Ben Shalom, head of co-promoter BOXXER, called for an inquest into the decision, while Catterall's trainer Jamie Moore was far stronger.

'It's difficult to put into words,' he said, clearly furious. 'Jack performs like that, beats the champion in his own back yard and gets absolutely robbed. It's absolutely disgusting. He's heartbroken.'

The feeling beforehand was that this could well have been Taylor's last commitment at 140lbs but he will likely take his time to decide whether to now vacate all of his titles and move up to welterweight.

Catterall had predicted he would receive an unpopular welcome from 12,000 boisterous Scots and he wasn't wrong, his walk to the ring met with a crescendo of boos and again when he was introduced pre-fight.

Taylor, in contrast, was cheered to the rafters for his first fight in Scotland since beating Ivan Baranchyk to pick up his first world title in 2019.

The noise never abated once the fight got underway, Catterall slipping in a left-hand shot in an otherwise cagey opening round.

The atmosphere was electric inside the OVO Hydro, Glasgow ahead of the main event

But the noise soon quietened as Catterall asserted his authority right from the opening bell

The champion got going in the second, landing some decent body shots and then finishing strongly with an overhead left that got the crowd roaring.

Taylor began to gradually find his range in the third, pushing the Englishman back on to the ropes as he looked to unleash a combination of shots that left Catterall with a nose bleed.

It was a scrappy, staccato contest, with the referee regularly intervening to break up clinches. Catterall wasn't going away, throwing in a combination to keep Taylor honest.

The Englishman's dogged approach was clearly having the desired effect, with a cut appearing under Taylor's right eye as the fight wound into the fifth round.

Taylor did land a strong left-hand too but this was proving to be far from the straightforward defence that many had expected as he laboured to make an impact against his tough-as-teak opponent who kept working away diligently.

The murmuring among the previously boisterous crowd told the story that was not going as the majority had expected as Taylor, for whatever reason, struggled to get into his usual rhythm.

It got worse for the champion in the eight round. Catterall sensed an opportunity and a clipped left sent Taylor to the canvas for the first time in his professional career.

Taylor had some limited success throughout as he looked to push his English opponent back

But disaster struck as the champion was floored for the first time in his professional career

Springing up quickly to his feet, but by this point he was already needing a knock-out it seemed.

The Scot's cause was helped when Catterall was deducted a point in the tenth round but the constant interruption did nothing to help Taylor get going.

Both men crashed into the ropes in the 11th, a round that ended with Taylor being deducted a point for a late shot to the back of the head.

He needed to come up with something miraculous in the final round but in the end it was the judges who rescued him.

In the end it was the judges who saved Taylor, who moved to 19-0 with the controversial win

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