Jack Catterall’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, feels he deserved the win against Arnold Barboza Jr. last Saturday night in their fight for the WBO interim light welterweight title at the Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester, England.

Hearn says Catterall (30-2, 13 KOs) had done enough to edge the fight by winning the 12th round, and he was surprised that he wasn’t given the victory. He states that normally, when visiting fighters come to the UK, they have to do a little bit more to earn a decision.

Catterall’s Shakur Imitation Fails

Catterall fought like he always does, using his retreat method, which no doubt he learned from watching Shakur Stevenson and wrecked his chances of winning. Interestingly, when Catterall did let his hands go, he was finding success, connecting cleanly much of the time. But it just came down to Jack focusing too much on his defense and not enough on his offense. It was the same 90-10 imbalance of defense over offense that we see with Shakur, which is why he’s poison for the eyes and is booed by fans. Catterall has the same problem.

Hearn is just going to have to live with it. Catterall has the wrong style for him to beat aggressive fighters with talent, as we saw with his loss to Barboza. The problem will keep popping up when Catterall eventually takes on the likes of Richardson Hitchins and Ernesto Mercado. He’ll be too focused on defense and get outworked.

The judges saw the more aggressive Barboza Jr. (32-0, 11 KOs) as the better fighter, scoring it a 12-round split decision. It’s not surprising that Hearn is grumbling about the decision because if his fighter, Catterall, had won, it would have put him in a position to be elevated to full WBO championship status when Teofimo Lopez chose to swerve him.

Hearn’s Excuses for Catterall

“I don’t think either of them did enough if I’m honest. In that kind of fight, you’ve always got to do a little bit more,” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV, discussing his fighter, Jack Catterall’s loss to Arnold Barboza Jr. last Saturday night in Manchester.

“After I got in the ring after, Barboza was like, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘That’s close.’ He went, ‘That’s not close.’ I went, ‘It’s 7-5 either way.’ I actually thought Catterall edged the twelfth to edge the fight, but every judge gave Barboza the twelfth.

“You can’t complain. Every judge had it 115-113 either way. Could have done. He should have done a little more,” said Hearn when asked what Catterall ‘could have done’ a little more to win. “Just be more aggressive. Go twice, back him up. You’re waiting. The one-two down the middle was working a lot of the time, but he wasn’t throwing enough.”

Hearn has got to confront the truth. Catterall didn’t do enough to win last Saturday night because he was too preoccupied with not getting hit by Barboza Jr. He didn’t like the sharp counters that the Southern California native was nailing him with. So, instead of coming forward and letting his hands go, Catterall was retreating all around the ring to keep from getting tagged.

He basically gave up the ship with just token resistance. Call it cowardly. The flesh was willing, but the mind was weak. I see it all the time with fighters. They have the physical ability, but they’re weak mentally. Catterall was a classic example last Saturday, and Hearn is having difficulty facing the truth. This will happen again, believe me.

Catterall’s Lack of Killer Instinct 

“In the middle part of the fight, he allowed Barboza [to dominate]. Early on, I had it 2-1, 3-1 Catterall, and then Barboza won six, seven, eight, that kind of period,” said Hearn. “Then Jack came back a little bit, but I just felt that he switched off a little bit. He [Catterall] let it slip. That’s the key.

“When I say, ‘Neither of them did enough,’ it was the same with Barboza really. Did he come and rip that? It was a vacant title, so you just have to win rounds really, but you’ve got to do sometimes when you come to the UK,” said Hearn.

As you can see from reading this, Hearn is basically saying that visiting fighters to the UK get the shaft when it comes to judging. I respect his honesty for telling it like it is, but it’s good that Barboza Jr. was treated fairly in this case

“When they said, ‘115-113’ at the end from the Polish judge, I was like, ‘I think we got it.’ The U.S judge went 115-113,” said Hearn. “The UK judge went 115-113, both the other ways. I just thought we won a close decision, but no complaints.

“I think he’ll kick himself,” said Hearn about Catterall. “It’s easy to say, ‘Do a little bit more,’ because if you do more, you get countered. Barboza is a good fighter as well. He’s got sneaky power. I just feel now is the time that you might kick yourself for not doing a little bit more.

“We’ll see what happens with Teofimo. Ultimately, Teofimo is probably going to fight Richardson Hitchins, and then the winner will have to fight Barboza. If the title becomes vacant, maybe Jack is back up there with a shot at the rematch,” said Hearn.