Catterall vs Essuman Predictions: Two men emerging from Josh Taylor’s shadow

Jack Catterall gets a tough assignment this Saturday, November 15 against dangerman Ekow Essuman. The welterweight contest takes place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London as part of the Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn II card. DAZN will screen the fight on pay-per-view and DAZN Ultimate. 

Read on for my Catterall vs Essuman predictions.

Catterall vs Essuman Odds

Essuman is in the role he has grown most accustomed to, that of the underdog. 2/1 is your price if you fancy 'The Engine' to upset another world class opponent in succession. Catterall is 4/9 while the draw is marketed at 14/1. 

Catterall vs Essuman Fight Preview

This fight almost makes too much sense. Catterall lands on this card via a fight with a Eubank. Namely Harlem Eubank, headliner Chris Jr’s cousin, who Jack beat by seven-round technical decision after a head clash in July. That was Catterall’s welterweight debut. In the context of his career, fighting Essuman now makes perfect sense.

That is because of a man who has cast a shadow over Catterall’s career; Josh Taylor. For those who have been living under a rock, ‘The Tartan Tornado’ beat Catterall via a highly-controversial split decision in 2022. Taylor was the undisputed super lightweight champion going in and his Chorley challenger has never come as close to world honours as he did that night.

Catterall beat Taylor two years later, which is an honour he shares with Saturday’s opponent. While the Scotsman was something of an agent of chaos in the career of Catterall, Taylor has arguably been the belated catalyst for Essuman.

Worse fighters have been awarded big fights for a lot less than what Essuman has achieved. But, after lifting the British and Commonwealth belts and crashing the world rankings, one bad night threatened to derail an entire career. Essuman’s points loss to Harry Scarff in late 2023 took more than his belts. It seemed to sap his momentum and devalue everything he had worked so hard to accomplish.

‘The Engine’ had looked better than British level for a good while, but after Scarff scarpering with his titles, world level appeared to be roped off forever. But Essuman got back to work, stopping Owen Cooper and outpointing a bloodied Ben Vaughan. Two unbeaten foes were taught a harsh lesson; never write off Ekow Essuman.

The big fight finally arrived. Essuman was cast opposite Taylor in the Scotsman’s glorious homecoming. The country’s only undisputed champion of the four-belt era was looking to rebound from twin losses to Teofimo Lopez and Catterall. A night that was supposed to relaunch a career stalled by defeat did just that. But not for Taylor.

Essuman fought like a man pouring nine years of frustration into 12 rounds. ‘The Engine’ would be overlooked no longer. In Glasgow, in front of thousands of Taylor’s nearest and dearest, 300 miles from his Nottingham home, Essuman beat the favourite in by unanimous decision. At the age of 35, the big time beckoned.

It does not get much bigger than this. A co-main event on arguably the biggest British boxing show of the year. The Taylor win propelled Essuman into the world top-10 with The Ring, the WBO and the WBA. Catterall is ranked by the four major sanctioning bodies. The winner of this fight takes a quantum leap towards title contention. Particularly when you take into account Essuman is third with the WBO and number-one contender Devin Haney already has a shot at champ Brian Norman Jr in the diary. There is every chance the victor on Saturday is next in line.

Catterall has been in this position before. After the first Taylor fight, he beat Darragh Foley and ex-world champions Jorge Linares and Regis Prograis, as well as the ‘Tornado’ himself in a rematch. This run of form landed ‘The Cat’ a crack at the vacant WBO interim super lightweight title against Arnold Barboza Jr.

A night of supposed catharsis at the Co-op Arena in Manchester in February turned into a Valentine’s Day Massacre of Catterall’s ambitions. In an underappreciated tactical battle, Barboza won a purist’s prizefight via a deserved split decision. 

So Catterall had to watch Barboza land his own dream fight; a WBO, The Ring and lineal super lightweight title crack at Teofimo Lopez. Barboza came up short, while ‘The Cat’ summoned another of his nine lives.

The Eubank win was a bit of a failure to launch. The fight never warmed up when an accidental head clash brought it to a seventh-round end. Catterall picked up the W though, which cleared the way for this high-stakes fight with Essuman.

With a main event that has more to do with personal history than career advancement, it is a fitting contrast that the chief support is all about world honours. Time is running out on Essuman, but his stunning win over Taylor stopped the clock. Catterall fights to end the frustration of his nearly-man existence. Win her, in front of a gigantic stadium crowd, and the doors are open to a world title shot in 2026.

Catterall vs Essuman Full Card

Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn

Adam Azim vs Kurt Scoby

Jack Catterall vs Ekow Essuman

Sam Gilley vs Ishmael Davis

Richard Riakporhe vs Tommy Welch

Mikie Tallon vs Fezan Shahid

Catterall vs Essuman Predictions

Essuman pinned Taylor back with handspeed and relentless energy. But some of his success came from drawing the Scottish great into a tear-up at times. Catterall is more switched-on defensively than his old rival. Can Essuman get Jack into the gutter for a good old scrap?

That is one avenue. The other is speed and timing. Catterall measures distance with his southpaw jab and looks fastidiously for openings for his left. If Essuman can disrupt Jack’s timing, interrupt his watching brief and make him throw when he doesn’t want to, he could find a way in.

But I think Catterall’s more measured work will win out here. He is not as hot-blooded as Taylor. The Chorley man will likely evade Essuman’s attempts to go to war and establish his jab. It might not be pretty, but ‘The Cat’ can do enough to win on points at 8/13.

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