Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall: Demotion of judge Ian John-Lewis ‘nonsense and disappointing’ says Jamie Moore | Boxing News

Jack Catterall’s trainer Jamie Moore has hit out at the British Boxing Board of Control’s reaction to the controversial fight with Josh Taylor, describing its decision to downgrade a judge as “not good enough”.

Ian John-Lewis has been demoted “from an A Star Class to an A Class Official” after the Board found an issue “with his margin” of a scorecard which was 114-111 in Taylor’s favour.

Undisputed super-lightweight champion Taylor won a split decision against Catterall.

Speaking about the Board’s reaction to the widely-criticised result, Catterall’s trainer Moore told BT Sport: “It’s disappointing.

“They say that they don’t disagree with his scoring because it didn’t affect the decision which is nonsense because it was a split decision.

“So obviously his scoring directly affected the scoring of the fight.

“They are going to lobby the governing bodies to make Jack the mandatory challenger? That means they agree there was an injustice. They are just passing on the blame.

“That isn’t good enough.”

A BBBofC statement read: “Following an internal review of the scoring of the Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall contest by all three appointed judges, the Stewards of the Board decided to call Mr. Ian John-Lewis to appear before them to explain his returned card.

“Having considered Mr. Ian John-Lewis’ explanation, the Stewards of the Board decided to downgrade Mr. John-Lewis from an A Star Class to an A Class Official.

“Whilst the Board were satisfied that Mr. John-Lewis’ scorecard did not affect the overall result of the contest, the Stewards of the Board did have issue with his margin.

“As the regulatory body for the Sport in Great Britain the British Boxing Board of Control continue to improve and maintain the high quality and consistency in scoring by our licensed officials. As such, the Stewards of the Board have further decided that in addition to each A Star Class Official being evaluated after each bout, as per current procedure, they will now also be subject to a separate individual annual review.

“Finally, the British Boxing Board of Control have contacted the WBO, WBC, IBF and WBA supporting Jack Catterall to be made mandatory challenger for each or all Championship Sanctioning Bodies.”

Moore added: “The only consolation will be if Jack gets a direct shot at the world title if Josh gives them up.

“The one good thing is that everybody is on Jack’s side.

“The sickening thing is that he will never get that moment back.”

Rematch?

Taylor has softened his initial stance that a rematch was not necessary by opening the door to a second fight with Catterall.

However, Taylor also has ambitions to move up to welterweight.

“Of course, I think he deserves it,” Taylor said about a rematch with Catterall.

“We’ll see what happens down the line – we can have a fight again with Jack, why not. I’m certainly open to it, so we’ll see what happens.

“Most likely at a catchweight. I can’t make the weight anymore safely, I don’t think. So we’ll see how it goes, but I’m keen for a rematch.”