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British super-lightweight Jack Catterall has played down the prospect of a trilogy with Josh Taylor and is focused on more big fights in 2025 – once he beats Regis Prograis later this month.
Catterall avenged his controversial defeat to Taylor from two years ago in May with a unanimous points victory over his Scottish rival in Leeds.
Next up for the Chorley boxer is a fight against former world champion Prograis in Manchester on October 26, but Taylor recently opened old wounds when he told Edinburgh Evening News he would knock out Catterall if a third bout could be agreed.
“You know what, right now it is chapter closed,” Catterall told the PA news agency.
“Would we consider it in the future? Possibly, but when you have such a big fight coming up in two weeks time, you have to be selfish and put all your energy into that.
“With the (first) Josh fight, it was frustrating and it was a fight I thought might not happen again, but we got it. We’ve beat him twice now so it’s nice to close that chapter.
“Of course the fights that I had in between the first and second fight, it was constantly getting spoken about and you are hearing about it all the time still. To then beat him and talk about the prospect of fighting Regis Prograis is a good feeling.”
This will be Prograis’ second fight in the UK after he lost by majority decision to Taylor back in 2019 at the O2 Arena.
Prograis bounced back to become world champion at super-lightweight level for a second time, but enters this bout at Co-op Live after a defeat to Devin Haney in December.
It's exciting and he is a fighter I respect, a former two-time world champion. I wouldn't say there has been a lot of trash talk— Jack Catterall on Regis Prograis
Catterall revealed he had been close to a fight with 35-year-old Prograis last year, adding: “Yeah we actually had a deal done probably 18 months ago to fight with a different network.
“That fight got agreed on both sides but fell through. Through no fault of Regis’ or mine and we both went away, did our thing and find ourselves in a position where we’ve got a fight going on.
“It’s exciting and he is a fighter I respect, a former two-time world champion. I wouldn’t say there has been a lot of trash talk.
“He is hungry to come over to Manchester and get the victory. Likewise, I am ready to send him back defeated. That is the nature of our sport, it’s a big fight and a fight I’m excited for.”
An injury for Catterall earlier this summer forced the contest to be pushed back from its original August 24 date, but the 31-year-old is ready to make up for lost time.
Catterall explained: “There was a slight feeling that it might not materialise. Again, grateful for my team that it got rescheduled quite quick.
“I have a lot of motivation for this fight to go out and put a dominant display on, to beat Regis and be sat then in a position to look at some big fights for next year.”
