Jack Catterall and Harlem Eubank duked it out over the vacant IBF Inter-Continental title this past Saturday but neither fighter fully impressed. Headlining a Matchroom card, the bout ended early as cuts that both fighters suffered forced a halt to the contest in the 7th round thereby allowing the fight to go to the scorecards. The event was held at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK, on July 5th.
Jack Catterall vs. Harlem Eubank
Stepping up in competition, Harlem Eubank (21-1, 9 KO’s) faced his toughest opponent in fellow Brit Jack Catterall (32-2, 13 KO’s) whose style posed many issues for Eubank. The two fought over the vacant IBF Inter-Continental welterweight (147 lbs) title over a set of 12 rounds.
The majority rounds proved quite difficult to call. Catterall, known for employing a “herky jerky” style that utilizes a lot of movement and feints, seemed to nick most of the rounds based on landing a few more clean shots but with Eubank using a similar style, their bout left a lot to be desired as it came to entertainment.
For the most part, Eubank’s struggles seemed to center around Catterall’s southpaw stance. Fighting orthodox, Eubank achieved little success in landing hits while the more experienced Catterall seemed to be able to gauge the distance much better.
Catterall’s ring IQ ultimately seemed to make the difference in the bout as he embodied the “hit and not get hit” principle to outbox Eubank on the scorecards.
In the 6th round, after 5 tightly-contested rounds that appeared split between the two fighters with at least 4, both fighters clashed heads incidentally, resulting in them suffering cuts that put the match into jeopardy. In the 7th round, barely a second in, the match was called off even after Catterall’s cut was checked by a medical professional ― as the referee deemed Catterall’s wound too detrimental to allow him to continue.
As a result, the match would go to a technical decision (TD) to determine the winner. Catterall would be announced the winner by technical unanimous decision (TD-U) after all the three judges scored it 69-66 twice and 69-65 in his favor, allowing the former super lightweight (140 lbs) contender to net the IBF Inter-Continental title.
Now set to gain a top 15 ranking on the IBF’s welterweight ranking boards, Catterall seems poised to challenge for the IBF 147-pound title which is set to be relinquished by current unified champion [WBA & IBF] Jaron Ennis once his plans to move to super welterweight has become official.
Undercard fights:
- Fighting in the co-main event, British former IBF super featherweight (130 lbs) champion Joe Cordina (18-1, 9 KO’s) faced Mexican contender Jaret Gonzalez Quiroz (17-2, 13 KO’s) for the vacant WBO Global title. The two would further compete at lightweight (135 lbs) over 10 rounds.
Cordina took the match by leaps and bounds but had some struggles facing the younger Gonzalez who further proved to be resilient opposition. Cordina went on to win the match by unanimous decision (UD) and is now the WBO Global champion at lightweight ― putting him closer in reach of potentially getting a crack at the future winner between Abdullah Mason and Sam Noakes as they prepare to fight over the vacant WBO lightweight title.
- In the women’s super bantamweight (122 lbs) division, Australian former featherweight (126 lbs) world champion Skye Nicolson (13-1, 2 KO’s) marked her official entry into the 122-pound division with a technical knockout (TKO) victory over Bolivian contender Carla Camila Campos Gonzales (9-4, 8 KO’s).
- British super welterweight (154 lbs) contender William Crolla (8-1, 6 KO’s), younger brother of former world champion Anthony Crolla, suffered a debilitating loss to countryman Fraser Wilkinson (12-2, 3 KO’s) who proved a step too big for Crolla as he recorded a 6th round TKO win over a bout scheduled for 8 rounds.
- British heavyweight (200+ lbs) debutant Leo Atang (1-0, 1 KO’s) further did well in his first match against Bulgarian journeyman Milen Paunov (7-16, 5 KO’s), stopping Paunov in the 1st round of their 4-round fight.
