Josh Taylor vs. Jack Catterall’s striking stats show how close the controversial rematch really was

Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall landed a total of 338 punches in their thrilling rematch Saturday evening in Leeds.

Catterall avenged the heartbreak of his controversial points loss to Taylor two years ago by raising his hand via unanimous decision with scorecards of 117-111, 117-111, 116-113 in his favor.

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“El Gato” took the early gates well, but as the laps progressed, Taylor began to claw his way back into the competition.

Ultimately, the boxing world was divided over the outcome, although few saw it as overwhelmingly in Catterall’s favor as the judges.

Taylor was left disheartened by the decision while his promoter Bob Arum called the scorecards a “total disgrace”.

CompuBox has since released the striking statistics from the fight which show just how close it really was.

In total, Catterall threw 40 more punches than Taylor and outscored him by 14 over the distance.

Catterall scored 88 punches to Taylor’s 60, but the Scot prevailed in the exchange of punches 102 to 88.

The fierce rivals were separated by three punches or fewer in six of 12 rounds.

During this time, they both outworked each other by 5 rounds each, with the second and 12th stanzas tied for total punches.

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Immediately after the fight, Taylor called for a rubber match: “I thought it was a great fight. Fair play to Jack. He was a better fighter than in the first fight.

“But look, I thought I just ruined the fight, to be honest. I thought I just ruined the fight.

“It was a close fight, but the controversy of the first fight played into the hands of the judges. But I think I just ruined the fight there, to be honest. Look, fair play to Jack. He won the fight. Let’s do one on the third.

“If he wants to get into bigger fights, he deserves it. But it’s a one-on-one, so let’s do it. Let’s make a trilogy.

“There has always been (respect). It’s respect for the fighters. It’s a winning nature, a competitive nature and a will to win. There is always respect. Even with people you don’t like, there is always respect.

But Catterall wants to move on to pastures new and fight Teofimo Lopez for the WBO and Ring Magazine light welterweight titles after being denied the opportunity to win all the belts against Taylor last time out.

“I thought I clearly won the first fight and I didn’t get the decision,” Catterall added.

“Even though I clearly thought I won the fight tonight, you never know, some of the scorecards you see.

“So to get the decision, rightly so, was a big relief for me. Winning the world title has always been a dream of mine.

“We didn’t get the undisputed world titles (against Taylor) and that’s fine. That chapter is now written.

“I want this world title fight now. (Lopez) beat Taylor before me, now I won against him and I want to prove that I’m better than (Lopez).”

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