Josh Taylor’s Saturday victory was baffling and controversial – a classic boxing result

It’s a disgrace,” said a burly Scottish man, standing over me with a beer in his hand.

I’m not sure whether he was supposed to be in the OVO Hydro’s ringside section, but there he was, offering his thoughts on Josh Taylor’s controversial win against Jack Catterall.

All the while, I was trying to collect my own thoughts and turn them into a cogent account of what had just played out on this Saturday evening in Glasgow.

Of all the possible outcomes of this undisputed super-lightweight title fight, Chorley’s Catterall out-boxing his fellow unbeaten southpaw over 12 rounds in hostile territory seemed one of the most unlikely.

Once the Englishman had done just that, however, what happened next again seemed on the surface to represent the unlikeliest of realities. Bloodied and bruised, Taylor was announced as the winner of the main event, his status as champion and his undefeated record both intact thanks to a split-decision result.

There were many shaking heads and words of disbelief along the media rows, one of them coming from the aforementioned, potentially trespassing Scot – despite his self-confessed support of his compatriot in the ring.

But for all the disbelief, Taylor receiving the victory here was not entirely shocking. Boxing has a history of baffling results, and this was just the latest in a long line of them.

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“The scorecards will be mad. Get ready,” observed Steve Bunce, a columnist for The Independent and a man who knows more about the sport than many a boxer.

While this correspondent does not yet possess the years of experience that Steve does, the sentiment was shared. A controversial decision was on the cards – quite literally.

As a writer, you try to make sense of it in as many words and as few minutes as you can – on this occasion, with stewards ushering you out of the arena and collapsing the tables around you. All you can then do is hope that you have done the fighters justice – more so than the judges did on Saturday.

Yours,

Alex Pattle

Combat sports correspondent