Josh Taylor, the “Tartan Tornado” from Haddington, Scotland, defends the WBA/WBC/WBO and IBF junior welterweight belts against Jack Catterall of Chorley, England, in a southpaw battle at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on Saturday night.
The 31-year-old Taylor (18-0; 13) has had an outstanding career since making his pro debut on 18 July 2015, winning the vacant Commonwealth junior welterweight title with a fifth-round stoppage against Dave Ryan and made a successful defence against South African Warren Joubert (tko 6).
He would then score impressive victories against Ohara Davies (tko 7), Miguel Vazquez (ko 9), Winston Postal (pts 12), and Ryan Martin (tko7) before going on to win the IBF junior welterweight belt on 18 May 2019 with a 12-round points win over Ivan Baranchyk (19-0).
On 26 October 2019 he beat Regis Prograis on a majority points decision for the WBA/.IBF and WBC Diamond junior welterweight belts and, on 26 September 2020, retained the WBA and IBF belts with a first-round knockout win over Apinun Khungsong.
In his most recent fight on 22 May 1921, he became the undisputed world junior welterweight champion when he beat Jose Carlos Ramirez in a clash for all the major junior welterweight belts.
The 28-year-old Catterall (26-0; 13), who is the WBO mandatory challenger, faces the toughest test of his career.
Catterall stepped aside so that Taylor could meet Ramirez for the WBC and WBO belts.
The challenger is rated at No 1 by the WBO and at No 9 by WBA and WBC but is not listed in the IBF rankings.
As the WBO mandatory challenger he is considered a worthy opponent for Taylor but has not fought at the same level as the champion.
Catterall has scored good wins over Tyrone McKenna, Ohara Davies and Tyrone Nurse for the British title.
Taylor goes into the fight as the favourite with betting odds of minus 1400 and Catterall at plus 800.
JERWIN ANCAJAS MAKES 10TH DEFENCE OF IBF JUNIOR BANTAM BELT
Filipino Jerwin Ancajas makes the tenth defence of his IBF junior bantamweight belt when he meets the unbeaten Argentine Fernando Daniel Martinez on Saturday at the Cosmopolitan Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The 30-year-old Ancajas (33-1-2; 22) is hoping to have a good win before meeting Kazuto Ioka the WBO champion in a unification matchup.
Ancajas, who has held the belt since September 2016, and Ioka were set to meet on 31 December in Tokyo, but the fight was postponed because of the travel restrictions after another Covid-19 surge.
An Olympian in 2016, the 31-year-old Martinez (13-0; 8) is the shorter of the two and in 2019 he scored a knockout win over the WBC silver champion South African Athenkosi Dumezweni.
Martinez had a good amateur record before joining the professional ranks in 2017 but the champion goes into the fight as the overwhelming favourite.
The other main organisation champions are WBC/WBA, Juan Estrada (Mexico) and WBO Kazuto Ioka (Japan).