Eddie Hearn believes that Jack Catterall and Josh Taylor could reignite their rivalry at welterweight.
Both men have spent the majority of their career campaigning at junior welterweight and had two controversial battles at 140lbs. The first of those saw Taylor successfully defend all four of his 140lb titles with a split decision victory, and is seen as one of the biggest robberies on British shores in recent memory. The second, meanwhile, was a much closer contest, and saw Catterall finally get his hand raised - although none of the belts were on the line this time.
Now the pair have both announced a move up to 147lbs with their next contests. Taylor will debut in the welterweight division this Saturday against Ekow Essuman in Glasgow, Scotland. Catterall will be welcomed to the 147lb division by Harlem Eubank in Manchester, England, on July 5.
Hearn revealed that there were talks with Taylor over a third fight with Catterall before they both signed for their respective contests and believes it could still happen.
“We actually talked about that trilogy, and I think it's got every chance,” said Hearn. “I mean, he's got to beat Ekow Essuman next week, that's not a given, but the fight came up with Harlem Eubank and Jack and I just thought, ‘I like it. I like the fight a lot.’”
Taylor’s ‘welcome to welterweight fight’ is by no means an easy one. Essuman, a former British champion at 147lbs, will push the pace in the contest and Taylor will be asked questions of his desire after achieving it all at junior welterweight. Hearn was asked how the now 34-year-old Taylor will fare against Essuman at this stage of his career.
“Do you know what, I'll be honest, I haven't seen a huge amount of Ekow Essuman,” he replied. “I saw him fight the last fight; I think he was in Birmingham. What he's got is a great engine, and it's just whether Josh can kind of carry that up to 147. Again for him, like when we did Taylor-Catterall II, we actually talked about that fight up at 142 or 143 and Josh said, ‘No, I want it at 140.’ That actually quite surprised me. He said he made the weight fine, but I just think after a while you need to move up in weight and that's the same for Jack.”