Josh Taylor punches his way to split-points decision victory over Jack Catterall to remain unbeaten

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Josh Taylor retained his four world junior welterweight titles thanks to a controversial split-points decision victory over Jack Catterall on Saturday.

Two of the three judges scored the fight for Taylor in front of his home fans at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland, despite the fact that the unheralded Catterall floored Taylor and out-boxed him for most of the fight.

Taylor, who took a count in the eighth round, rallied in the later rounds and was awarded scores of 114-111 and 112, with the other going to Catterall.

It was Taylor's third world title defense and his first on home soil since he was crowned champion at the same venue in May, but this one will be remembered for the judges' baffling verdict.

Before the biggest fight of his career, not much was known about Catterall, but he produced a technically smart performance worthy of the top level in front of a sell-out crowd. Catterall looked like the undisputed champion, rather than Taylor, who was caught too easily and found landing clean shots too hard.

Taylor insisted that he did enough to win the fight in the later rounds, despite the fact that he had talked about stepping up a weight division for bigger fights.

Taylor said that he thought he won the fight, even though he started slow.

It wasn't my best performance and I put a lot of pressure on myself to be heavy favorite and boxing back at home, but I believe I got the win 100 percent once I started catching him. I won the fight, I scored the bigger shots and the more meaningful shots. He put up a good fight, but didn't win the fight. I took control of the fight in the second half.

It might be Taylor's last fight at 140 pounds, a further blow to Catterall, who would have wanted a second fight given the controversy.

After waiting three years for his first world title shot, Catterall did not waste any more time in a bright opening. Catterall was able to land more punches against his opponent.

After flooring American Jose Ramirez twice in his last fight, Taylor entered this fight in great shape. He was slow to start against Catterall, who was better for most of the second round.

Taylor suddenly let his hands go at the end of the second round as if someone had just pressed the switch, and the champ was a lot more active in the third.

Catterall switched to boxing at range, on the counter, as Taylor stepped it up, and the champ struggled to land clean shots. In the fourth round, Catterall's confidence grew. He landed a flurry of punches at the end of the round.

Catterall sunk a left into Taylor in the fourth. The situation near the midway point with the challenger on the ascent must have alarmed the corner of Taylor.

Taylor was cut by the left eye in the sixth round and was behind on points when he was caught by a big left hand from Catterall.

In the eighth, Taylor sunk to a knee for a count after Catterall cuffed his left hand to the top of the head. In the ninth, Taylor fought back and defeated Catterall. In the 10th round, Catterall was docked a point for holding.

Taylor dominated in the 10th but spoiled his work at the end of the 11th with a petulant dig at Catterall, which resulted in him being docked a point.

Catterall used his jab to great effect to deny Taylor any openings as the Scot hunted for the knockout in the last few rounds.

After the final bell, the team lifted their man on to their shoulders, but two of the judges thought otherwise.

Robeisy Ramirez, a Cuban who lives in Florida, looked great in a three-round victory over Eric Donovan. The double Olympic gold medalist stopped his Irish opponent in the third round with a left hook after forcing a first-round knockdown.

Ramirez showed his quality with an array of shots and accuracy, as well as power, that turned the game on its head in the third. Carl Moretti of Top Rank said the plan is to get Ramirez a world title fight in a year.