Taylor vs. Catterall Predictions

The rematch never happened last year, as Taylor got injured before boxing Teofimo Lopez on his return. Taylor vacated all his titles during this period except for the WBO strap. He lost that belt in his unanimous decision defeat. There are question marks over whether Taylor is on the decline. There are suggestions that he struggles to make 140, while Catterall could be the hungrier fighter as he chases his first world title. Here are predictions from boxing insiders over how the fight will play out. 

Taylor vs. Catterall

“After their first fight which ended very controversially, at long last the return. I’m not alone in saying Catterall was extremely hard done by in there first meeting. I still scratch my head asking who are those judges and what were they looking at? The uncrowned champion must surely be heavily favoured to win their eagerly awaited return. Catterall would have learned so much from their first fight and will leave nothing to chance. I see a late stoppage between round 9 and 12 for Catterall,” Duke McKenzie

“I like Taylor in another close fight! Although Catterall deserved to win the first one, that was his one chance to win and catch Taylor off guard. Guys like Catterall get overlooked, he’s a strong, short southpaw and a headache stylistically for anyone, but Taylor will make adjustments and win another tough decision this time around,” Sergio Mora

“It depends how much Taylor has left in him. Taylor has been having a shaky last few years. I would pick Catterall to win. It’s kinda hard for me to pick Taylor, he hasn’t looked the same in awhile, he’s getting older, had a lot of injuries and inactivity. I would lean more towards Catterall but Catterall didn’t look as good against Linares. Catterall looks the fresher man, so I’ll go with Catterall,” Regis Prograis

Further Predictions

“I think Catterall is going to win, I thought he won the first fight. I’m expecting a different Taylor for this fight, I think it’ll be a more competitive fight. I don’t think Taylor will have taken him lightly this time. I’m going for a Catterall win on points,” Dalton Smith

“I think Taylor is on the slide and also Catterall is all wrong for Taylor stylistically. He’ll negate Taylor and break his rhythm. Catterall points,” Matthew Macklin

“Since this is their second time fighting, I think Taylor had a lot of adversity in the last outing with being knocked down and having a point taken from him, I think he has learned a lot from that fight and even more from the Lopez fight he had. I feel Taylor will tighten up his game plan and I think he may win a lot easier against Catterall this time around,” Jolene Mizzone