Scotland's Josh Taylor has revealed to Sky Sports he has suffered "a pretty bad injury" which will cause a delay to the much-anticipated rematch vs England's Jack Catterall; "We'll fight when I'm ready to fight"; Taylor secured a controversial points win over Catterall last February
Sunday 22 January 2023 13:21, UK
Josh Taylor has confirmed he suffered a "pretty bad injury" while preparing for the Jack Catterall rematch and Scotland's world champion insists "we'll fight when I'm ready to fight".
Taylor was expected to confirm a second fight with Catterall, but this fitness setback means he must wait longer to return to the ring following his controversial points win over the Chorley boxer last February.
The bitter rivals had to be separated on Saturday night when they clashed angrily at ringside while attending the Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith bill at The AO Arena in Manchester.
"We'll fight when I'm ready to fight. I've got an injury, and that was it really," Taylor told Sky Sports post-Liam Smith's defeat of Chris Eubank Jr.
"Injury happened through the week there on Monday, but I've been trying to pull through it and see if I could carry on training, but I couldn't.
"I went to see the specialist, and it's a pretty bad injury, so I can't rush the recovery. I've just got to wait and see how long it takes to recover.
"It's hugely frustrating. I was fired up for this fight, ready to go. I was flying in the gym and everything was going well.
"Everything was on point and then I had a bad accident, and it's just one of these things that's out of my control.
"I can only try and recover as quickly as possible, get back to the gym and back into the training routine as quickly as possible.
"Hopefully soon. I can't really put a timeline on it now. I need to wait and see how the recovery goes and what the doctors and specialists say.
"It's not one that I'm going to be rushing because it's quite bad. So we'll have to wait and see, but hopefully as soon as possible, because I really want to get that fight and get on with my career.
"My career has been put on hold for a couple of years now, so I want to get back on the road."
Taylor's contentious split decision victory over Catterall has been the subject of heated debate ever since.
To make that rematch happen Taylor had to give up three of the four world titles he held, refusing to let mandatory challengers divert him from the fight he wanted.
He does remain the WBO 140lb champion, so although a rematch wouldn't allow Catterall to challenge for undisputed status once again it would still be a second consecutive world title shot for him. Primarily though it would give Catterall the chance to try to settle the score with Taylor.
The injury to the Scotsman however will impose a further wait for the fight both men crave.
