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WINNERS
Jack Catterall
13/1 shot Jack Catterall waited his whole career for Saturday night’s chance at super-lightweight gold, and if it wasn’t for two peculiar scorecards the Manchester fighter would be the new undisputed king at 140lbs.
I’m not going to dwell on the result more than necessary – I scored it pretty handedly for Catterall – but it’s the 11th round that raises the biggest eyebrows for me.
All three judges scored the 11th round for Taylor despite landing just three punches and getting peppered by Catterall’s jab throughout a majority of the three minutes.
Watch it back. Isolating these three minutes is probably the most useful in illustrating the stink of this result as a whole. Okay, Catterall didn’t walk the round, but I find it close to impossible how three judges could see that for Taylor in unison.
Catterall won’t find any comfort in being named a WINNER this week nor by the outcrying on social media – hopefully he can find justice down the line.
Josh Taylor
Say what you want about Saturday night’s fight: Josh Taylor is still undisputed and unbeaten at 140 lbs.
It’s not the fault of the “Tartan Tornado” that the scorecards in Glasgow were so questionable – he rallied well in pockets and continued to come forward despite growing in frustration throughout the fight.
Taylor’s last seven opponents have had a combined record of 162-1 and he’s more than proved his worth at super-lightweight before an imminent move to 147.
Hector Garcia
Wow. Welcome to the big time.
The 30-year-old Dominican accepted this weekend’s fight against Chris Colbert on two-and-a-half-weeks’ notice and had never competed on the top level before – but you wouldn’t know that.
Garcia dominated the bout from first bell to last landing scorecards of 119-108,118-109 x2 in his favour and was proven correct when he said his life was going to change after this fight.
The southpaw will now chase titlist Roger Gutierrez in an attempt to add more pages to this developing fairytale.
LOSERS
British judges
I’m not gonna waste precious energy going over Saturday night’s scorecards in even more detail, but it’s getting boring having to question British judges over and over and over and over again.
Like a monkey with a miniature cymbal, the joy of repetition really is in you.
This argument has been raised more times than I’ve misspelt Murodjon Akhmadaliev, but why can’t we sit down judges after a fight and get them to explain their reasoning for scoring rounds a certain way.
It won’t help bring Jack Catterall his five belts, but it may help him sleep a little better – or worse – at night.
Chris Colbert
Yikes, in a weekend of upsets I wasn’t expecting Chris Colbert’s name to appear.
Roger Gutierrez’s pain was Hector Garcia’s gain in Las Vegas as the late-replacement dropped and dominated our previously ranked number 7 at 130lbs.
Big things were expected of the 25-year-old this year but it’s back to the drawing board in an attempt to rebuild in a competitive division.
Guillermo Rigondeaux
You can almost hear a rendition of Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” when you look into the eyes of the aging Guillermo Rigondeaux.
I’ve long been an admirer of the eccentric Cuban great and even had the pleasure of interviewing him. He can be magic at his best and mind-numbingly boring at his worst, but I’ve always warmed to his mystique and ability to split a room. But it’s hard to escape the truth that he is coming towards the end of his career.
Rigo was dropped and beaten via UD by fairly unknown Vincent Astrolabio in Dubai, signalling the third defeat of his career and the second in a row after falling to John Riel Casimero last August.
If his time is up, then gracias, Rigo.
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