Jack Catterall plan confirmed by promoter Ben Shalom with next fight lined up after Josh Taylor injury

An injury to bitter rival Josh Taylor has delayed the eagerly-anticipated rematch once again, with Boxxer chief Ben Shalom now saying Catterall can wait no longer.

It could be that the 29-year-old returns 13 months on from his hotly-disputed first fight with Taylor in Liverpool on March 25, when Boxxer are holding one of their Sky Sports shows.

READ MORE: Chorley fight star Jack Catterall clashes with bitter rival Josh Taylor out of the ring

That is to be confirmed but it now appears Catterall’s next opponent will not be Taylor - although the fight is far from off for good.

“It feels like that fight is cursed,” Shalom said. “We’ve been waiting so long, especially Jack has been waiting 12 months. Then it was about to be announced that and we got the news that Josh picked up an injury and quite a serious one.

“We have to look again and as Team Jack Catterall, we have to move on and we have to fight so he’ll fight at the end of March and then we’ll see how Josh’s injury progresses.

“I feel for him as well. He really wanted this fight, they were both ready for this fight and both needed it. I feel it was an absolutely massive rematch to make and we just have to hope that Josh Taylor will be fit very soon. But Jack cannot delay his career any longer.”

The pair nearly came to blows ringside at the Manchester Arena last month with their fight set to be announced on the night Liam Smith knocked out Chris Eubank Jnr.

Taylor’s foot injury at the 11th-hour scrapped that plan, with March 4 back in Glasgow the widely reported second go-around.

It was in February last year that Taylor and Catterall faced each other for the first time, with the former being awarded a controversial split-decision win, despite many observers feeling that Catterall should have been given the nod and become undisputed world champion at super-lightweight.

That chance has gone, with only the WBO’s version of the four 140lb world titles now in Taylor’s possession, but the increasing bad blood between the pair makes it one of the most high-profile fights in British, and even world, boxing right now.

It appears that Catterall will first have a run out next month in what will be, for a variety of reasons, just his fifth fight in four years.