Arnold Barboza Jr. upset the house crowd because the American took the interim WBO tremendous light-weight title in a tactical battle with Jack Catterall in Manchester.
Barboza nullified Catterall’s work, placing the pre-fight favourite off his stride within the early rounds. As the competition progressed, Barboza gave pretty much as good as he acquired as a chess match performed out all through the twelve rounds.
The 33-year-old impressed the judges sufficient to take the choice and the strap with two of the judges 115-113. A 3rd noticed it 113-115 in favor of Catterall for a cut up resolution on the CO-OP Reside Enviornment.
WBN scored the struggle a draw however couldn’t argue with Barboza getting it, as Catterall didn’t do sufficient to win. CompuBox stats for Catterall vs Barboza proved how robust it was to separate each males.
“This was an in depth struggle as evidenced by the truth that in solely one of many twelve rounds have been the combatants separated by greater than 4 landed punches,” stated CompuBox. “Barboza and Catterall swung and missed so much, however Barboza was the extra lively fighter, throwing 123 extra punches however solely touchdown 18 extra punches than Catterall.
“Barbosa spent a lot of the struggle circling Catterall, transferring out and in of vary, whereas Catterall looked for openings that didn’t materialize. Catterall solely averaged 25 punches thrown per spherical, whereas Barbosa averaged 36.”
After his biggest triumph, Barboza thanked Oscar De La Hoya, naming him ‘The best promoter’ within the enterprise. De La Hoya talked about Barboza a few occasions throughout the bout on social media, stating he had it stage after six rounds, as WBN did.
Congratulations, @jrBarbozaArnold 👏
He defeats Jack Catterall by cut up resolution to win the WBO Interim World Tremendous Light-weight Title ⚔️
📝 115-113 Catterall, 115-113 Barboza, 115-113 Barboza pic.twitter.com/35MhHcn0SK
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) February 15, 2025
Following the decision, De La Hoya added ‘and the brand new’ as he’s prone to have bagged himself one other world champion in his Golden Boy Promotions secure.
Teofimo Lopez holds the complete belt however is reportedly able to vacate reasonably than face Barboza, which means an improve is on the playing cards. Lopez has been in search of different challenges regardless of a compulsory WBO order to struggle Barboza within the subsequent few months.
The consensus is Lopez will look elsewhere, and Barboza will quickly be celebrating his first world championship.
Reece Bellotti, Pat McCormack, Jazza Dickens, and William Crolla loved victories on the undercard.
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Learn all articles and unique interviews by Phil Jay. Study extra concerning the writer, skilled boxing author, and World Boxing Information Editor since 2010. Comply with on Twitter @PhilJWBN and Quora.
