JACK CATTERALL has no problem diving back into the deep end with Josh Taylor — after enjoying ice-cold swims among monster fish and shipwrecks.
The Chorley super-lightweight, 29, felt robbed of his undisputed dream last February, when the Tartan Tornado claimed one of the most controversial wins in British boxing history.
Now the rematch is finally sorted for March 4 back in Glasgow — with only the WBO belt on the line after Catterall’s rival was forced to vacate the other three.
But Catterall’s painful year out of the ring helped him find a chilly hobby that lifted him off rock bottom and helped focus his mind on revenge.
The 26-1 southpaw said: “A lot of my friends do triathlons and have always used a lovely little swimming spot a couple of miles from where we live.
“Not long after the Taylor fight, I decided to go down and have a swim with them and just haven’t stopped.
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“We are in there by 6am, finished by 7am, and then our days start.
“I see it as a mental exercise because there is nothing quite like being in that freezing water at 6am to focus your mind and block everything else out.
“When you drop into that water, first you worry about catching your breath and controlling your breathing.
“I’ve gone a couple of times without a wetsuit, just in trunks, but not since it turned cold. Yet the idea you put a wetsuit on and suddenly don’t feel the freezing cold is a total myth.”
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Hypothermia is not all Catterall has to worry about when taking a plunge down at Eccleston Delph.
He said: “It’s a scuba diving centre so underneath where we swim you see sunken tanks, planes, even a children’s playground and wrecks to explore.
“There are also some big fish down there, 20 and 30-year-old koi carps.
“One summer my sister Milly came to watch and bought fish-food pellets.
“As I was swimming, she followed me and threw them in at me — attracting all the fish to bite around me.”
Milly is not the only woman in Catterall’s life to have taken a fleeting interest in his chilly passion.
I see it as a mental exercise because there is nothing quite like being in that freezing water at 6am to focus your mind and block everything else out.
Jack Catterall
He added: “I took my missus Lauren. She jumped in with no goggles, head never went in the water, she refused to look at anything below the surface, got out and said, ‘Never again’.
“She’s never been back since but I give her plenty of credit for trying.”
After a no-frills start to his career — trying to sell tickets around the leisure centres of Manchester, Blackpool and Bolton with southpaw skills but no knockout power — Catterall should have enjoyed a Rocky-style coronation.
The 9-1 underdog outfoxed the excellent Taylor, who cannot be blamed for the bizarre scorecards. But two of the officials put in atrocious marks that still demand a better explanation from the British Boxing Board of Control.
Catterall somehow kept his head after the highly controversial split decision, while respected trainer and fireman Nigel Travers hit the roof and delivered a string of scathing interviews.
Because the promise that Travis and hundreds of other uncelebrated boxing coaches all over the country use to rescue wayward youths was smashed to smithereens live on Sky Sports.
Following an investigation and amid a huge backlash from fight fans, one of the judges that night was demoted by BBBofC bosses — but the result stood.
And Catterall explained: “Nigel is in the Moss Side gym with his amateurs seven days a week. He is in Salford with his pros five days a week. Friday and Saturday nights he is at shows.
“Everything he does is about getting kids off the street and helping them better themselves.
“I have been one of those kids since I was ten — and youngsters now look up to me, see what I have achieved and want to target the same.
“So the Taylor result is just really difficult to explain. If you tell kids that hard work, dedication, honesty and integrity will get rewarded — and then they see what happened to me — it undoes a lot of the work.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
