Eddie Hearn Eyes “Big Fight” For Jack Catterall’s Welterweight World Title Challenge After Harlem Eubank Jr. Victory

Promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s going to be looking for a “big fight” for Jack Catterall to challenge for a world title at welterweight next as soon as his cut heals from his seventh-round technical decision victory over Harlem Eubank Jr. on Saturday night in Manchester, England.

(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom)

Catterall (31-2, 13 KOs) did the bare minimum in each round before suffering a cut over his right eye from a clash of heads in round six against Eubank Jr. (21-1, 9 KOs) at the Manchester Arena. The ringside doctor examined the cut and was going to allow the fight to continue. However, a second doctor opted to have the fight stopped.

The scores:

69-66
69-66
69-65

Catterall’s Next: Welterweight Gold

“Jack is going to be looking for a big fight at 147 now. He’s going to be ranked in the top 10 in both governing bodies [IBF and WBA at welterweight]. The division is red hot right now. You’ve got some tremendous fighters,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV, talking about Jack Catterall’s win over Harlem Eubank.

Hearn is likely hoping to lure Devin Haney or Ryan Garcia into wanting to fight Jack Catterall. That’s not going to happen without Turki Alalshikh getting involved because neither of those fighters is going to want to fight what some fans view as ‘The British Shakur.” Catterall’s hit, move, and hold style is not interesting for fighters or fans. Turki needs to forget about pouring money into a fight involving Catterall against any of the small handful of popular fighters at 147.

Hearn’s Welterweight Strategy

Catterall has only fought once at welterweight now against Eubank Jr, and he’s done nothing to deserve a world title shot against any of the champions in the division.

“Obviously, with Boots moving up and likely to vacate, Paddy Donovan against Lewis Crocker comes for that [IBF] world championship spot. The winner of that fight is going to be looking for big fights. Big fights domestically and big fights, Ireland against England, and internationally,” said Hearn.

It’s hard to believe that the Donovan vs. Crocker rematch winner will be the be new IBF welterweight champion. Neither one of these fighters has beaten any notable contenders during their careers. Hearn is going to target the winner of that fight for Catterall because he’s not good enough to beat WBO champion Brian Norman Jr. or go in the direction of the WBA belt held by Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero.

“And you’ve got [Bakhram] Giyasov, who was supposed to fight Boots for the [WBA] super championship. Jack will be out for a while because of that bad cut, but after that, it’ll be our job to try and land a big fight,” said Hearn.

Hearn is going to keep Catterall far away from the unbeaten #1 ranked WBA contender Bakhram Giyasov, because he would be bad news for Jack. He has too much talent, and he hits way too hard for him. Hearn is going to keep Catterall on the path of fighting the Crocker-Donovan winner for the IBF belt. That’s at least a winnable one for Jack.