Jamie Moore has said it will be no problem for Jack Catterall to keep his emotions in check ahead of his grudge fight with Josh Taylor.
The pair rematch on Saturday at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England, more than two years after their controversial first fight in Scotland, which Taylor won via split decision.
The bad blood has run deep since even before their first encounter, and it has not relented. But Moore says Catterall will not let his feelings get the better of him and that he will not have a hard job keeping his man calm.
“No, I wouldn’t say I have,” said Moore. “I think Jack is one of those fighters who’s a dream to train, and the reason being is he’s so in control of what he does – stuff like his emotional state, how thorough he is in everything he does in terms of planning out training, his diet, his strength and conditioning.
“A lot of fighters are very good fighters, but there’s areas where you need to be on them, in terms of making weight, making sure they’re running in the evenings, sometimes you’ve got to crack the whip with them in the gym. He’s an absolute dream to train, from the point of view of the only thing you have to do is hold him back, make sure he’s not overdoing it and give him a bit of tactical advice, which is a trainer’s dream.
“From a temperament point of view, you probably couldn’t get anyone more laid-back, which is the ideal type of person you’d want going into this type of fight and one of this magnitude, and where potentially it could get to the stage where you might get a bit emotionally involved. But he’s never shown me anything. Ever. And I’ve seen him in some real rough situations, where he’s never lost his head.”
Moore and Catterall have been through a lot together, including working with one another day-in and day-out for 16 months before the Taylor fight as Catterall’s career stalled through inactivity. But at the end of it came Catterall’s chance to face Taylor for all of the titles at 140 pounds. This time around, there are no belts at stake, but Catterall is going in with the knowledge that he can present real problems for Scotland’s former undisputed champion.
“In many ways, you’ve got to wipe the slate clean,” Moore said, referring to the first fight and implications ahead of this one. “We go into it with the mindset that Josh Taylor’s at his best, he’s still undisputed champion and similar to what was happening before the first fight. Jack was getting wrote off and people were saying, ‘We know he’s a good fighter, but he’s up against it with Josh Taylor.’
“I’ve been drumming that into him and saying we have to go in with that mindset because if you don’t, then the last thing we want to do is underestimate Josh, because he’s a phenomenal fighter. We know how good he is. We know what he’s achieved, and we know at his best he’s a helluva fighter. So we have to go in there with that mindset, and as long as Jack performs the way I know he can…
“People were confused why I was so confident last time, and it wasn’t because I didn’t rate Josh Taylor as a fighter, it was because I know how good Jack Catterall is. And there’s a big difference. I know as long as Jack performs the way he can and the way he performs in the gym, he beats the best version of Josh Taylor.
“I think we’re in a better position this time than we were last time just because he’s been active. He wasn’t active for 16 months before the last fight, so we’re in a much better position.”
