Jack Catterall vs Arnold Barboza Jr. Preview Feb. 15th, 2025
The vacant WBO Interim Junior Welterweight Title is on the line for England’s Jack Catterall and Arnold Barboza Jr. of Los Angeles, California this Saturday, Feb. 15th. The 12-rounder from Manchester, England can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Catterall last fought in October when he beat former WBC Junior Welterweight Champion Regis Prograis via a 12-round unanimous decision for the vacant WBO International WBO Junior Welterweight Belt. Catterall was down in the fifth round and Prograis was dropped twice in the ninth stanza. In his previous outing in five months earlier Catterall beat Josh Taylor by a 12-round unanimous decision in a rematch of their 2022 fight which Taylor won by controversial split decision while he was the WBC, WBO and IBF Champion. Barboza Jr. last fought in November when he downed former world champion Jose Ramirez by a 10-round unanimous decision.
Catterall vs Barboza Jr.
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Arnold Barboza Jr. +200
- Jack Catterall -260
My Pick
The 31-year-old Catterall hails from Chorley, and boasts a fine record of 30-1 with 13 Ko’s. He possesses below-average power with 43.3 per cent of his wins coming by stoppage and has gone the distance in nine of his past 10 bouts. He’s boxed 218 rounds since making his pro debut in 2012. Before that he enjoyed a pretty good amateur career in which he reportedly went 48-18 and captured a CYP title and reached the final of the Junior ABA’s.
Since turning pro he’s won a few other regional and minor titles such as the BBBoC Central Area, WBO European, WBO Inter-Continental, and BBBoC British Super Lightweight Crowns. Catterall stands 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 69-inch reach. He first stepped up in class in 2022 in the first fight with Josh Taylor and definitely proved he belonged with the best of the division and further proved it with his wins over Taylor in the rematch as well as beating Prograis.
His biggest wins up until then were against the likes of Nathan Brough, Thomas Stalker, Jarkko Putkonen, Jesus Rodriguez, Joe Hughes, Tyrone Nurse, Tyrone McKenna, Ohara Davies and Timo Schwarzkopf. After losing to Taylor he remained at the top level by beating Jorge Linares and Darragh Foley by 12 and 10-round round unanimous decisions respectively and captured the vacant WBA Inter-Continental Super Lightweight Title. But there’s no doubt former world champion Linares was in the twilight of his career.
Barboza is 33 years old and climbs into the ring with a perfect mark of 31-0 with 11 Ko’s. He’s boxed 198 rounds since making his pro debut in 2013 following a brief amateur career. He measures 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 72-inch so is two inches taller than Catterall with a three-inch reach advantage. And when it comes to power, Barboza is also below average with a current knockout ratio of just 35.5 per cent and has gone the distance in seven of his last eight fights after stopping four of his previous five opponents.
Since turning pro after a short amateur career, Barboza has also won the vacant WBO International and NABF Jr Super Lightweight Titles. He’s beaten Mike Alvarado, Tony Luis, William Silva and Antonio Moran along the way but is probably best known for his slugfest against Alex Saucedo in October, 2020 when he was dropped in the seventh round but came back to win a 10-round unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO International Super Lightweight Belt.
Prediction…
Catterall isn’t really a polished boxer but he is quite determined and has just enough power to keep you honest. Barboza possesses the better boxing skills overall but doesn’t have much in the way of power either. However, he’ll basically need to stop Caterall in England or dominate him due to the bias judging and refereeing over there. Based on his past recent fights, I don’t really see this happening but anything’s possible. Therefore I’d give the edge to hometown boxer Catterall.
Catterall is fighting at home in England.
Play Catterall -400 @ BetOnline.ag
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Arnold Barboza Jr betting • Jack Catterall betting