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Nick Parkinson
Jack Catterall sees a victory over Regis Prograis on Saturday as a stepping stone to a junior welterweight title shot, rather than take a third fight with Josh Taylor. Catterall (29-1, 13 KOs), 31, expects to progress to a world title fight should he beat former two-time champion Prograis at the new Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester, England.
Catterall is ranked No. 2 with the WBC and WBO, whose champions are Alberto Puello and Teofimo Lopez respectively. He is also No. 3 with the IBF, whose champion is Liam Paro.
The English boxer is at a pivotal point in his career, after what he describes as his best performance yet when he earned a unanimous decision over Taylor, the former undisputed champion, in an absorbing rematch in May.
Taylor (19-2, 13 KOs), 33, has since claimed he would knockout Catterall in a trilogy fight, but Catterall is not interested in facing the Edinburgh-based boxer after his clash versus Prograis.
“I just don’t see how it benefits me, fighting Josh for a third time,” Catterall told ESPN. “I don’t know if the demand and interest is there for it and he doesn’t offer me anything, there’s no benefit in fighting him unless it was unbelievable money because he’s got no belt. Plus, in my mind I’ve beaten him twice.
“I would expect the next fight after this should be for a world title, and the division is wide open. You’ve got four world champions and I’m confident that after winning against Regis I will be fighting one of them.”
Catterall, from Chorley which is approximately 20 miles from Manchester, believes the experience of losing to Taylor for all four titles in a controversial split points loss in February 2022, and then having to wait until May for a rematch, has strengthened his resolve and hunger.
As frustrating as it was at the time to lose to Taylor, Catterall says it helped him improve as a fighter and subsequently goes into Saturday’s fight versus Prograis in the best form of his career.
“I would say the Taylor win was the best of my career,” Catterall told ESPN. “In the second fight, we knew how dangerous he was, so to fight how I did and keep my emotions in check made it the best of my career. “There had been a lot of frustration outside of the ring on my behalf but you have to be patient and I didn’t fight with my emotions, it was a test of my character and I deserved to get that points decision.”
The fight with Prograis, who lost a majority decision to Taylor in a unification title fight in October 2019, was delayed from August due to an unspecified injury suffered by Catterall.
“I picked up an injury in training, I’m not going to go into details, but I’m fully fit now,” Catterall told ESPN.
Prograis (29-2, 24 KOs), 35, from New Orleans but based in Houston, is a southpaw like Catterall, who expects the American to be up for Saturday’s nontitle encounter after a disappointing shut-out decision against Devin Haney in December. Haney captured the WBC title from Prograis, who was floored in Round 3 and lost every round.
In fact, Prograis broke the CompuBox record for fewest punches landed in a 12-round championship bout with 36.
But Catterall told ESPN: “I thought Haney was really good and Regis just didn’t pull the trigger, he never got going. He was swinging and missing and he didn’t look great in the fight before that either [a split decision win over Danielito Zorrilla in June 2023]. The past two performances from Regis weren’t great so if he has got anything left he has to show in this next fight against me. He is a two-time champion, very experienced and he needs to look good in this one so it’s a dangerous fight for me.
“I’ve been fortunate that I’ve had a lot of southpaw sparring so I will be ready for him. I’ve followed his career last five or six years and I know what to expect from him and he’s a good fighter.”
As well as handling the threat Prograis brings, Catterall must also deal with being the main event at a major venue in nearby Manchester for the first time.
But Catterall has dealt with pressure points before, such as producing a brilliant display to subdue Taylor’s home crowd in Scotland in February 2022. And then there was also the time he shared the ring with Floyd Mayweather at the former pound-for-pound No. 1’s gym in Las Vegas in 2015.
Later the same year, Catterall also sparred with Canelo Alvarez, now the reigning super middleweight champion, before Alvarez’s fight with James Kirkland.
“As a young professional, you have to get out and get the experience by travelling abroad to getting top sparring, which is what I did when I went to Las Vegas,” Catterall told ESPN. “I wasn’t a high level amateur boxer so I needed to get that experience from sparring early in my career and it’s made me the fighter I am today. “It was a nerve racking experience and a lot of pressure, I was in my early 20s and there were 300 or 400 people there in the gym, loads of media, all watching me spar Mayweather.
“It was before Floyd fought Manny Pacquiao. It was a great memory, and seeing how world champions prepare was great experience. I held my own, sparred a few rounds and it was great for my confidence. It’s those experiences that shape you as a fighter.”
Source: www.espn.com