Jack Catterall can still become world title holder, says Jamie Moore

Jack Catterall’s trainer, Jamie Moore, is in no doubt that his man can still lift a world title, even after his defeat by Arnold Barboza Jnr.

Catterall faced Barboza at the Co-op Live in Manchester, England, for the WBC interim junior welterweight title, losing a razor-close split decision. Victory meant Catterall would have become the mandatory challenger to belt holder Teofimo Lopez Jnr – and, with it looking increasingly likely that Lopez will move up to 147lbs, would be upgraded to full titlist.

This is not the first time Catterall, now 31, has missed out on world honors due to a split decision. He was controversially denied the undisputed 140lb titles against then-champion Josh Taylor in 2022. It seemed as though Catterall had beaten Taylor clearly, but two judges disagreed and he lost a split decision.

Despite these setbacks, Moore still believes that Catterall will eventually lift a world belt.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, 100 per cent, I know Jack can win a world title,” Moore told BoxingScene. “He just needs to be given the opportunity, and I believe it’s his destiny to be a world champion. All these little setbacks that have happened along the way, ultimately, when he gets to that point, it’ll just make that more sweet when he does get there. But Jack Cattarall and being a world champion, it’s meant to be. It’s just not taken place yet.”

Saturday’s loss to Barboza was agonizingly close for Catterall and Moore. Catterall scored what seemed to be a knockdown in Round 10, but referee Steve Gray ruled it a slip. The extra point from a knockdown could have swung the narrow loss in Catterall’s favor. Moore believes the decision to rule it a slip was incorrect, but he accepts that Catterall could have performed much better.

“Yeah, listen, the same as what I thought on the night – It was a close fight,” Moore said. “There wasn’t loads of action. There weren’t any rounds, really, where you thought there were big rounds. There could have been one round where I still believe we should have had a knockdown. But it’s just one of them things – and it was a close fight. At the end of it, it really was one of those where you were just like, ‘There’s nothing in that.’ Jack can perform much, much better, for whatever reason. He had an off night. I didn’t think Barboza was particularly good, either. And, you know, it was one of those fights which could have gone either way and, unfortunately, we didn’t get it.”

What went wrong for Catterall? Moore is still no closer to finding the answer.

“In all honesty, I just feel like it’s not something that I can put my finger on myself at the minute,” he said. “I haven’t watched it back, and maybe when I watch it back, I’ll maybe be able to sort of have a better idea of what we could have done better. But I don’t generally like watching the fights back after we’ve had a loss straight away, because I feel like there’s emotion involved, and I think a bit of time in between to sort of look at it logically and go, ‘Right, OK, let’s be honest now, this stuff we did wrong and what could we have done better?’ But nevertheless, I know Jack could have performed better, but I can’t fault him for his reaction to it or the way he’s gone about it himself.”

Catterall made no excuses during his post-fight interview. He held his hands up and took his loss honorably. Catterall is the type of fighter to not make excuses even when they are there to be made. However, preparations went “perfectly,” Moore confirmed.

“In all honesty, he was coming into it, and I was like, he seems like he’s in the best form he’s ever been in,” Moore said. “So, again, there’s no excuses. We can’t really put our finger on what sort of went wrong, and I went and had a coffee with Jack yesterday, and I had a couple of hours with him, but we didn’t really talk about it because it’s not the time. The time when you’re in that mindset of you feel stung and you feel hurt and emotions are high, it’s never a good point in time to talk about stuff like that. It’s always better to let the dust settle, and then I always feel like you analyze it better then and you’re more honest with yourself, rather than emotions playing in it.”

The loss to Barboza will likely have cost Catterall a big payday against Lopez or another of the division’s big hitters. Moore was asked if the finest of margins could have cost Catterall millions in earnings.

“Those type of questions, how long is a piece of string?” he replied. “You can go back to the decision four years ago against Josh Taylor and say that cost him millions – literally cost him millions. On my post afterwards, I mentioned I’m so proud of Jack and the way he conducted himself. He always conducts himself in such a good way. The way he’s been able to drag himself through these different scenarios and situations is literally one of the most resilient people I’ve ever come across. I’ve no doubt this is just a little setback for him.

“He’s still 31, he’s still young and fresh enough,” Moore continued. “He hasn’t accumulated a lot of punishment over the years. I’ve no doubt that he’ll brush himself down. His ego will be bruised a little bit. That momentum that he’s got has just hit a little bit of a bump in the road. I’ve no doubt in my mind, the way he conducts himself, the way he commits himself to what he does every day, I’ve no doubt he’ll be back stronger and better than ever.”