Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall are better off scheduling the postponement at this point.

The Ring has confirmed that the oft-delayed Taylor-Catterall rematch is once again pushed back. An apparent flare-up suffered by Scotland’s Taylor forced the former Ring 140-pound champion to temporarily shut down training camp.

Their second meeting was due to take place atop an April 27 DAZN show from First Direct Arena in Leeds, England. Matchroom Boxing—who will promote the event—has confirmed the card will now take place on May 25 from the same location.

ESPN.com boxing insider Mike Coppinger was the first to report the development, via social media.

Taylor (19-1, 13 knockouts), No. 2 at 140, defeated England’s Catterall (28-1, 13 KOs), No. 7 at 140, via split decision in their Feb. 2022 Ring and undisputed 140-pound championship.

Many viewers felt that Catterall did enough to dethrone the unbeaten Taylor on the road in Glasgow. However, judge Howard Foster (113-112 Catterall) was the only one whose card was in line with that opinion. Judges Ian John-Lewis (114-111) and Victor Loughlin (113-112) awarded the fight to Taylor, who retained his crown.

Efforts to schedule the rematch in a timely fashion proved futile and career damaging to Taylor. They were initially due to meet in Nov. 2022 before it was pushed back to last February. Another delay pushed the fight to last March before Taylor suffered a torn fascia plantar.

Not only did the Scottish southpaw grow stale on the sidelines but he was forced to give up his WBC, WBA and IBF belts. Taylor made that sacrifice to stay the course for a second go with his contentious rival.

However, plans completely fell through last spring.

Taylor instead faced Brooklyn’s Teofimo Lopez (20-1, 13 KOs). Their June 2023 meeting saw Lopez turn in a career-best performance to win the Ring 140-pound championship and WBO title.

Catterall, 30, was forced to deal with more than a year’s worth of inactivity. He eventually moved forward with his career in a pair of wins last year.

The British southpaw from Chorley, Lancashire defeated Darragh Foley via ten-round decision last May 27 in Manchester. The win was followed by a twelve-round, unanimous decision over former three-division titlist Jorge Linares. Their October 21 DAZN headliner from M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool remains Catterall’s most recent fight to date.

It appears for the moment that the latest delay won’t prove as damaging with a four-week wait.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Follow @JakeNDaBox

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