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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Martin Domin

Judge who scored Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall fight punished for controversial decision

The British Boxing Board of Control has downgraded judge Ian John-Lewis following his scoring of Josh Taylor's win over Jack Catterall.

Taylor clung on to his four world titles last month with a controversial split-decision victory over his mandatory challenger.

Mr. John-Lewis scored the bout 114-111 in the champion's favour while the other judges scored it 113-112, one in favour of Taylor and the other in favour of Catterall.

The BBBoC subsequently launched an investigation and has now released its findings.

A statement read: "Following an internal review of the scoring of the Josh Taylor v 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.

Josh Taylor was a controversial winner over Jack Catterall (SNS Group)

"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."

Should Josh Taylor fight Jack Catterall again? Let us know in the comments section below

Earlier this week, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, has asked the police to investigate the circumstances of Josh Taylor’s controversial world super-lightweight title win over Jack Catterall in Glasgow last month.

Hoyle, who Catterall’s MP in Chorley, voiced his anger at the outcome in the wake of the contest and has now revealed he has asked Scotland Yard as well as Cabinet officials to investigate potential “undue influence”.

Hoyle said: “Everyone is disgusted by what’s happened – it brings the sport into disrepute. I have to question why the judges got it so wrong? I have already sent a letter to the police.

“I have spoken to Nadine Dorries, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Minister for Sport, Nigel Huddleston – they are both looking into this.

“I also believe that something seriously went on here – whether it was undue influence, one must question why?”

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