jimmystone wrote: ↑01 Mar 2022, 15:00
People underestimated Catterall, that much was clear after three minutes. Perhaps Taylor has been overrated. He seemed short of ideas to me.
That's not down to weight issues.
It is. The most obvious issues from cutting a lot of weight are bad enough, but the other less talked about issues, particularly those that affect the brain are just as bad, possibly worse. Eyesight, reaction time, timing, spatial awareness and the very ability to think, particularly at the pace required in a fight don't seem to be discussed much.
Human beings are made up of water, carbon and a bunch of chemicals that make all the physical bits work the way they do. Rehydrating is not just getting the water back but getting that chemical balance back. What i saw was a Taylor that looked nervous during and after the weigh in right up to stepping in the ring. I think he knew he wasn't feeling right by a long way.
I never believed the line he could do his whole career at 140, no one that is his height and in their early thirties is going to keep that up, it was inevitable he was going to go to the well once too often weight wise the longer he stayed at 140. He is a lucky, lucky boy. If Catterall had been a banger Taylor's heart, chin and stubborness would have kept him up long enough to endure a bad beating ending in a stoppage,possibly career ending or worse.
He looked a shadow of himself and no matter how good Catterall was (i thought he was great, timing and accuracy as good as i have ever seen him) Taylor isn't that bad. Time will tell if he can come out the other side of this fight with the mental toughness he will need at the level he is fighting. I hope Catterall goes on to bigger and better things, his confidence should be through the roof after that and he deserves much more than he got at the weekend. He certainly won a load of new fans up here, me included.