Mike Coppinger, confirming an earlier report from Keith Idec, brings word that Josh Taylor’s planned February 4th rematch with Jack Catterall has been postponed, with organizers now targeting March.
Per Idec’s conversation with Bob Arum, Sky Sports wanted to put a bit of distance between this fight and Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith on January 21st. Not entirely clear on the logic behind this, since Taylor (19-0, 13 KO) vs Catterall (26-1, 13 KO) was on the schedule a full month before Eubank vs Smith. Why even book the latter so close to the former when they 100% knew ahead of time that there was going to be a conflict?
When they once again share a ring, it will have been over a full year since their first meeting. By all accounts, both men have been healthy most if not all of that time; Taylor was dogged with orders to fight all the other mandatory challengers that piled up, but he never had any intention of honoring them. The buzz is gone, as is most of the hardware, and the extra delay feels like an acknowledgement that the relevant parties massively beefed this one.
With all the initial controversy, it’s surreal that Taylor and co. have eroded the rematch’s status from “necessary” to “whatever; let’s just get it over with.”