Judge downgraded after Taylor-Catterall scorecard

Iain John-Lewis, a judge who scored in Josh Taylor’s favour in his controversial win against Jack Catterall, has been downgraded for his scorecard by the British Boxing Board of Control.

John-Lewis scored the fight 114-111 to Taylor – two out of three judges favoured him, leading to a widely-criticised split decision win.

Taylor retained his undisputed super-lightweight title against Catterall last month.

A BBBofC statement read: “Following an internal review of the scoring of the Josh Taylor vs 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.

“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.”

The BBBofC have been investigating the scoring in the Taylor vs Catterall fight.