Boxing

JACK CATTERALL grabbed Josh Taylor by the neck during their explosive first face-off.Tempers flared between the boxing rivals ahead of their highly-anticipated rematch in April.
Josh Taylor shoved Jack Catterall after he grabbed his neckCredit: Reuters
The rivals clashed during an explosive first face-offCredit: Reuters

Taylor controversially won their previous meeting via split decision in February 2022 to defend his light-welterweight world titles.
The pair are now set to settle their rivalry at the First Direct Arena in Leeds on April 27.
Ahead of the bout, a press conference was held in Edinburgh on Monday.
The tense press conference went back and forth with insults before Manchester’s 30-year-old Catterall said Taylor “can’t even see straight”.
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The 33-year-old Tartan Tornado hit back with x-rated insults and shouts of “rat”.
And when they were posed close together for a photo opportunity, Taylor lashed out his arms and shoved Catterall backwards.
The Scot placed a hand on his opponent’s waist before Catterall reached out for Taylor’s throat.
And then there was a rapid move from southpaw Taylor and a security separation.
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After Taylor landed the most significant shove, he shouted out “I can see straight now can’t I?”
Broadcasters DAZN called for another stare-down with promoter Eddie Hearn involved.
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But Catterall lashed out first this time and the pair were separated until the second leg in Manchester on Tuesday. 
Taylor said: “the guy is obviously riled up, he tried to put his hands on me.
“He is trying to wind me up but he doesn’t have the brains to do it.”
But Catterall disagreed and again suggested his foe was not fully fit, saying: “He has been in hiding for two years, I’ve not been able to find him.
“He came out today but he didn’t look too clever.”
Taylor controversially beat Catterall via split decision in 2022Credit: Reuters
Catterall traded insults with his opponent from across the stageCredit: Reuters
Catterall was handed his first professional loss in their first meeting two years ago.
El Gato left Taylor with two cuts by his left eye and knocked him down, but was only given the nod by one of the three judges.
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Both fighters were deducted points during the bout, which also had a heated build-up between the long-term rivals.
Taylor, who was also unbeaten at the time of the first fight, lost his WBO light-welterweight title to Teofimo Lopez in June last year. More

ANTHONY JOSHUA has received the backing of old sparring partner David Price in his fight against Francis Ngannou. Joshua returns on March 8 in Saudi Arabia against Ngannou, who only made his boxing debut in October against Tyson Fury.
Anthony Joshua fights Francis Ngannou on March 8Credit: PA
David Price once dropped Joshua in sparringCredit: PA:Press Association
And the former UFC champion-turned boxing debutant astonishingly dropped Fury despite losing a controversial split-decision.
The performance was still enough to earn him another blockbuster in Riyadh, this time against AJ.
But Price – who once floored Joshua in sparring – believes this time Ngannou will not have the same success in the ring.
He told iFL TV: “I think Joshua will walk through him really in a boxing match.
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“I think it will magnify what happened with Fury and get people talking more again.”
Price, 40, retired in 2021 two years after defeat to Derek Chisora, 40.
But in 2016, he was considered as an opponent for Joshua, who at the time was making the second defence of his IBF title.
Price stated his case by revealing that he had dropped Joshua in a previous sparring session.
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AJ was an amateur boxer at the time and never denied Price’s claim when probed in the past.
Joshua told Sky Sports in 2016: “Yes, he dropped me in sparring and I continued training and that’s why I am here now.
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“In a sense, you have to look at these things as a blessing in disguise because in boxing, a lot of people get dropped, get hurt and then go on and do great things.” More

OLEKSANDR USYK already has a replacement opponent contracted if Tyson Fury pulls out of their super-fight again. The pair of undefeated champions were set to meet in the heavyweight division’s first four belt undisputed title decider on February 17.
Tyson Fury facing off with Oleksandr UsykCredit: EPA
But Fury was forced to withdraw after suffering a horror cut in sparring that required 14 stitches.
The bout has since been postponed to May 18 and both have agreed to forfeit £10MILLION of their own cash if they withdraw.
But Usyk’s trainer Sergey Lapin has also claimed Filip Hrgovic is already lined up to replace Fury if lightening does strike twice.
Lapin told Fruity Slots: “I hope Usyk will get the chance to settle the score with Fury on May 18.
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“But if he continues to run, then we have a clause in the agreement to replace Fury with Filip Hrgovic.
“Hrgovic is the back-up opponent, so the show will go on regardless of whether he shows up, this was also confirmed by His Excellency Turki Al Sheikh.”
Fury, 35, was just two weeks out from the fight of his life when an accidental elbow by sparring partner Agron Smakici sliced him open.
But Lapin goaded: “Let’s say he did get cut – through a head guard and with large training gloves – can you imagine what will happen to his head when he receives a bomb from the Usyk in a ten-ounce glove?
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“If Fury finally dares to enter the ring on May 18, then it will be a terrible dream for him, he has never boxed with a boxer of this level in his life.
“Ngannou exposed Fury for what he is, a fighter with too many miles on clock, a fighter who has had too many wars.
“And, a fighter who is now in rapid decline to the point he’s been badly troubled by sparring partners.”
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TYSON FURY’s undisputed clash with Oleksandr Usyk could feature a major change to judging protocol, should WBC chief Mauricio Sulaiman have his way.The duo’s rescheduled showdown for all the heavyweight marbles will take place in Saudi Arabia on May 18 after a horror cut in sparring scuppered their proposed February 17 clash.
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will fight for all the heavyweight marbles in MayCredit: GETTY
The pair’s historic showdown was postponed due to a cut in sparring for FuryCredit: EPA
WBC president Maurico Sulaiman hopes to bring in extra judges and instant replay for the fightCredit: MARK ROBINSON
The Riyadh rumble will crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era and the first since Lennox Lewis nearly 25 years ago.
And the magnitude of the fight – which has been over two years in the making – has WBC president Sulaiman wanting the introduction of extra ringside judges to avoid any dodgy decisions ruining the mega-bout.
He told Sky Sports: “Boxing is a sport in which change is very difficult to get. We’re purists, traditionalists, we don’t want changes.
“I will continue to make the proposal. Some like the idea, some of the people in the decision-making process. We will see.
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“We had proposed to use five judges or six judges.
“However that was not considered. It did not happen. I would still recommend [it].
“We do have a remote scoring system which is used for training and evaluating ring officials from all over the world. They score live in the WBC system that we developed.
“We have found through fights done in this system that the more officials that score a fight, the less possibility of a wrong decision.
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“Anybody can have a bad night. If you have one judge have a bad night and the two others get it correct, you still save the fight.
“You have two judges with a difficult fight and then one round can shift the whole result.”
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Sulaiman is adamant having more eyes on the fight would eliminate the possibility of one bad scorecard causing chaos.
He continued: “If you have more officials then the possibility of a wrong score goes to a minimum. But we will see.
“That’s the only intention to make sure there’s no controversy.
“Now we have the biggest fight in 25 years in the heavyweight division. So we have to try to do our best.”
Sulaiman, additionally, hopes to introduce video replays for the fight in a bid to further help referees and ringside officials.
He said: “I believe it will happen, now that the fight has been postponed until May 18, three months from now, we will look into it.
“The initial idea was to put together specific guidelines of the usage of instant replay and we’re in that process.
Mauricio Sulaiman also wants to bring in video replays for the Riyadh rumbleCredit: REUTERS
“So we’re going to work with the producers of the feed to see what equipment and what communications are needed, what the review panel will be, just go into details.
“As an example, we did instant replay in the UK with Charlie Edwards and [Julio Cesar] Martinez and we just did instant replay in Fury-Ngannou when Fury was cut.
“The referee he didn’t see any action that cut, ruled it a punch and then the British Boxing Board of Control and myself looked at the screen, the big screen in the stadium and saw the head butt so we called it officially a headbutt.
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“But the idea of having the possibility of reviewing a major controversial happening inside the ring, to make the right decision, the right call at the time is basically it.
“To have the absolute certainty that there will not be a controversy. That in a fight of this magnitude would be absolutely unacceptable.” More