Notebook: Catterall fighting Eubank at 147 but 140 still future option
Shigeoka fights for life after emergency brain surgery; Taylor apologizes for bolting from ring; heavyweight announces shock retirement; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Longtime junior welterweight contender Jack Catterall — the uncrowned undisputed champion to many given the extraordinarily controversial split decision loss he suffered challenging then-champion Josh Taylor in 2022 — is moving up to welterweight.
Catterall will face British countryman Harlem Eubank at AO Arena in Manchester, England — Catterall’s home region — on July 5 (DAZN) on a Matchroom Boxing card, but he made it clear he is still open to boxing again at 140 pounds.
"I find myself in a position now where I can make 140 (but) obviously the natural step would be to go to 147,” Catterall said on Tuesday at the kickoff news conference for the Eubank fight. “It’s got to be the right fight. If the right fights come at 140 in the future then we’ll consider that. Me and Harlem spoke before. I think he was only fighting at 140 around two, three fights ago. When it got proposed at welterweight, it did me a favor.”
In 2024, Catterall (30-2, 13 KOs), 31, a southpaw, handily outpointed Taylor in their long-awaited rematch (albeit not in world title fight), and outpointed former two-time titleholder Regis Prograis. But in February, Catterall suffered an upset decision loss to Arnold Barboza Jr. in Manchester.