IN THE aftermath of his fight against Jack Catterall, Scotland’s Josh Taylor has been given a crash course in the less savoury aspects of human nature — one that the vast majority of us never receive.

The controversy whipped up — and it has been whipped up — over his hard-fought victory over England’s Catterall to retain his undisputed super-lightweight title, has seen him overnight turned into something close to a hate figure within the British boxing establishment.

It has resulted in a veritable pile-on against him on social media, wherein not only he, but also his partner, have been showered with abuse and threats.

Taylor’s supposed crime is that he was awarded the split-decision victory over Jack Catterall in the face of an ironclad consensus which holds that the latter was robbed.

Worse, in the opinion of Taylor’s critics, is that the Scot has dared to maintain that though it was a very close fight, the judges made the right call in giving him the nod.

We shall return to the fight later, but for now let us take a moment to look at how Josh Taylor has to all intents been thrown under the bus by the small legion of British boxing pundits, many of them ex-fighters, Sky and even Boxxer, the promotional outfit headed by Ben Shalom which recently replaced Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom as Sky’s promotional partner.

When you start bandying around words like “shameful,” “disgusting,” “outrageous” and “disgraceful” in response to a judge’s split decision, whether you are aware of it or not you project those sentiments onto the fighter who got the decision — in this case Josh Taylor — and thereby set him or her up to be demonised and attacked.

And sorry, caveating such words and sentiments with “This is not Josh Taylor’s fault,” simply isn’t good enough, as by then the damage has been done.

The response to one fighter having his hand raised at the expense of another at the end of a given fight may well be unbridled anger on the part of fans, but those who are actually in boxing have a duty of care to protect all fighters at all times, both in and out of the ring.

Taylor won his belts the hard way, one by one, as he blazed his way through the division like the tartan tornado he’s embraced as his ring name.

Nobody has done him any favours and neither has he asked for any. He has campaigned all over the world, fought in front of huge crowds and no crowd during Covid, and is entitled to feel betrayed by people who prior to the Catterall fight were lining up to blow smoke up his backside.

Of course, it is entirely valid to criticise a split decision in boxing, and for sure the 114-111 card in favour of Taylor by ringside judge Ian John-Lewis was way off and requires an explanation. But as to the decision itself, having watched the fight back again there is no doubt that this was a close run thing.

Taylor was the clear aggressor for the bulk of the fight, pressing the action as he normally does, but on this occasion continually frustrated by Catterall ducking down and closing the distance behind his lead shoulder before grabbing and spoiling.

It was a clever game plan so far as smothering Josh before he could get his shots off went, but Catterall, in this writer’s opinion, should have been deducted more than one point, given that as soon as he was deducted a point in the ninth for continually holding Josh’s head down, he immediately started doing it again and kept on doing it up to the final bell.

As for Taylor’s point deduction, this was a knee-jerk reaction to him hitting Catterall on the body after the bell in the penultimate round.

Looking at the incident again, this was a gesture of acknowledgement rather than a punch thrown with meaning and the point deduction in response was unjust.

Overall referee Marcus McDonnell had a shocker and should have deducted a point from Catterall a few rounds before he did, after making it clear both to the fighter and his corner that he would do so unless the constant holding and spoiling stopped.

Catterall landed the cleaner shots when he reverted to boxing, and of course the knockdown was significant, but this was not a performance that you would associate with a fighter ripping all the belts off an undisputed champion in his own backyard — especially when the challenger spent the last four rounds in survival mode.

It’s no accident that the likes of Andre Ward and Teddy Atlas had Taylor winning the fight. Across the other side of the pond the culture around boxing typically prizes aggression and intent more than it does spoiling and holding.

If Catterall had put in a George Kambosos-type performance against Teofimo Lopez and completely dominated the champion, then yes, no argument. The fact is, he did not.

A draw would have been a fair result, watching the fight back, and yes an immediate rematch would be a just and ideal next step. The reality is, though, that Taylor made a mistake in taking this fight, as clearly, going by his condition at the weigh-in, he has outgrown 140.

He was glycogen- and water-depleted to a dangerous extent for a fighter, which told in his performance. Even though Catterall stepped aside to allow Taylor to fight for and claim his undisputed title last year, on the basis that Taylor would in turn give him his shot, mother nature dictated that he should not have done so and immediately moved up.

Favours have no place in a boxing ring, not when your health — never mind titles and money — is on the line, and this was a dangerous gamble on the part of Taylor and his team, one they were lucky didn’t end as badly as it could have. Depleting in the last few days prior to the weigh-in in order to make weight is an approach that needs to be completely dispensed with. 

The main takeaway from this fight and the ensuing controversy surrounding the decision is that the current system of judging is not fit for purpose.

Officials need to be made to account for their decisions and the sport needs a fresh influx of officials with particular emphasis on former pros taking up these roles.

But ultimately, no matter what system is in place, boxing beyond stoppages and knockouts is a subjective business wherein beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The sport’s history is littered with controversial and disputed decisions. Still today I am debating with friends the merits of Sugar Ray Leonard’s points victory over Marvin Hagler in 1987.

Catterall deserves another shot at a world title, no doubt, while Taylor deserves to be respected for what he has achieved in the sport and the exciting nights he’s provided its fans in Scotland and elsewhere.

As for the haters out there, we can only hope they get better.