Jamie Moore On Taylor-Catterall: ''What Happened Last Time Can't F**king Happen''

The Sportsman caught up with Moore ahead of his fighter, Chantelle Cameron, facing Jessica McCaskill
13:57, 03 Nov 2022

Boxing trainer and former European super welterweight champion Jamie Moore is in for a busy few months. The Mancunian has been training the WBC, IBF and The Ring super lightweight champion Chantelle Cameron for her undisputed title clash with Jessica McCaskill. After that fight this Saturday, talk suggests his super lightweight stat Jack Catterall will face WBO and The Ring champion Josh Taylor in a rematch from their controversial battle last February.

The Sportsman secured an exclusive chat with Moore to talk about Cameron’s Abu Dhabi superfight and the mood in the Catterall camp as he prepares for revenge on Taylor.

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How are preparations going for the fight?

Everything's gone great. Chantelle is in great shape, she’s had great sparring. She's been sparring with Aqib Fiaz, Jack Catterall,  Sean McGoldrick, Gamal Yafai, all her gym mates. Omorah Taylor who was on (Team) GB, she's been over for sparring as well. So some really good rounds in and she’s on form.

Chantelle gave an interview where she said there’s only one thing she feels McCaskill does well. Do you guys view McCaskill as a one-dimensional fighter?

I think we'd be ignorant to do that. I think for the vast majority, if you watch her career, she doesn't fight that much different. But that doesn't mean that she can’t. We have to be aware of that, we have to cover every base.

That's why we've had Aqib Fiaz in there dancing around the ring, getting on the backfoot. Just in case she tries to switch it up and take us by surprise. Even though we've got a pretty good idea of how she's going to come out, because one of her best attributes is that he's that intensity, and that aggression. We're ready for that. But if she comes out different then we'll just adapt.

Are you viewing this as Chantelle’s toughest fight so far?

Of course, I'd be disappointed if it wasn't going to be. It's for the undisputed title, it's for all the marbles and it should be her toughest test. 

Chantelle’s rarely got out of second or third gear up to now. So you've not seen the best of her because she hasn't had the opponent to bring the best out of her. That's why I'm excited for this fight. I believe everyone's going to see the best Chantelle because of how much respect we've got for Jessica. How good we know she is and the intensity she's going to bring. It's going to be a phenomenal fight.

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A fight that’s been talked about in the past is Chantelle Cameron vs Katie Taylor. Is that a fight you guys are targeting in the future?

Anyone who's in or around that weight division wants the chance to challenge Kate and test herself against her. She's a phenomenal fighter and she's one of the all-time greats. But that's not the be all and end all.

First of all, Jessica McCaskill is the undisputed champion at the weight above, That's always an option in terms of a rematch. Amanda Serrano, that was a very close fight between her and Katie. So that's another option for Chantelle. The girls seem to be going up and down the weight divisions a little bit more freely than the lads. So there's other options there, even at light middleweight you’ve got Tasha Jonas, who’s a good friend of Chantelle’s. There’s some massive fights to be made in and around those weight divisions.

It’s been an incredible year for women’s boxing with Taylor-Serrano and the gigantic O2 Arena card headlined by Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall. What do you make of the immense popularity and quality of women's boxing at the moment?

I think it's justified. I think the O2 card was phenomenal. The co-main event and the main event were brilliant fights, great adverts. But we need to get away from the tagline of “women's boxing”. Now I think we need to just be in general saying what a fight that was on Saturday, whether it's a man or a woman. 

I believe we've got a goal. There's got to be a level playing field. We've got to get to the point where the girls are doing the three minute rounds. Twelve-threes for a championship fight. And that way, that's the only way we'll ever get to the point where it's a level playing field. We actually asked for this. For Chantelle’s last couple of fights. “Can we make it twelve-threes?”. But if we keep pushing for it, then hopefully we'll get to that point.

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Shifting gears slightly, Jack Catterall looks all set for the rematch with Josh Taylor. What's his mindset now that he's finally got what he's wanted for so long?

He's obviously still a bit hesitant because it’s not actually been announced yet. Until it's actually been announced, we'll always have that little bit of a doubt. But we know everyone's agreed the terms and everything. It’s looking like early February. So yeah, we're excited. Because, you know, there were certain little pockets of time where we were going, “Are we going to get it?”.

Does it take a little bit of the shine off that Josh has vacated three of his four belts? Especially knowing how close Jack came to being an undisputed champion in the first fight.

Of course, it’s massively disappointing. Moreso to the governing bodies, because they're the ones who, instead of doing the right thing after the outcry of the first fight, because of their mandatories pushed Josh Taylor into giving the titles up. 

Instead of saying for the good of boxing, because of what happened we're gonna keep these belts on the line and then we'll hold whoever wins the rematch accountable for the mandatories, they forced him to give the belts up. But The Ring magazine is an independent belt, and whoever's got that is classed as the number one in the division. So he will still have that title if and when he wins. But you know, it is unfortunate for him not to become undisputed because he actually won the (first) fight and should be undisputed champion.

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The big story going into the rematch is Taylor appointing a new trainer, Joe McNally. Will you be preparing Jack any differently with this in mind?

But I've said this many times, and I said it in the build up to the first fight Jack Catterall’s the most adaptable fighter I've ever come across. I'm not worried in the sense that Joe McNally is going to do anything massively different with Josh. Because at 30 years old and all the experience that Josh's got, you're not going to be changing massively. 

You can get the machine to do something different, but you can't change the makeup of the machine. And ultimately, that's what I believe. Jack Caterall, not just Josh Taylor, but any ten stone fighter in the world, he is good enough and adaptable enough to beat any of them.

The consensus is that you and Jack didn’t get the decision you perhaps deserved in the first fight. Will you be asking Catterall to go for the knockout in the rematch to try and negate another questionable judge’s call?

I refuse to let outside influences affect the way we perform, because it shouldn't be that way. I've got to have faith in what happened last time. The people involved, we’ll be all sat having a conversation, especially before the rematch going, ”Listen, what happened last time can’t f**king happen this time. Make sure you do your job properly tonight, I'll do my job properly, Jack will do his job properly. Josh will, Joe McNally will.”

Then the British boxing Board of Control and the judges they employ have got to have that conversation beforehand. To make sure we don't get this wrong this time. Whatever happens, whoever wins, make sure the right person wins this time. I'm not going to change the way we go about our job over that. They need to adapt their job.

cameron to beat mccaskill: 4/7*

*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change

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