Jack Catterall beats Harlem Eubank as cuts stop fight after Round 6

Jack Catterall beat Harlem Eubank under contentious circumstances on Saturday, with the fight stopped after Round 6 after both fighters sustained cuts above the eyes.

The clash which caused the cuts was deemed an accidental head clash, meaning the result went to the scorecards as Catterall won a technical decision unanimously with scores of 69-65, 69-66 and 69-66 in front of his home crowd in Manchester.

After a slow start to the fight, things were just heating up, with Catterall having the better of the early exchanges before Eubank started to produce some solid shots.

The action came with 30 seconds remaining in Round 6 when the pair came together and reeled away from the clinch after a clash of heads.

Catterall was cut above his right eye, Eubank his left.

While both fighters were ready to continue into Round 7, the fight was called off by referee Bob Williams.

“I’m not saying it was intentional but as soon as Harlem were cut I thought he ran straight in with the head,” Catterall said in the ring afterward.

“I felt it go, [I] come back to the corner, got asked if I wanted to carry on, of course I did. The referee made the decision [and] it’s out of my control.”

In his first fight at welterweight, Catterall said he felt comfortable against his less experienced opponent.

“It’s what I anticipated,” he said.

“Slippery, tricky. A lot of head movement. I felt like I was catching the cleaner punches, the one-two, the jabs, touching and my distance felt better. I was ready to build on that but didn’t get the opportunity.”

Meanwhile Eubank called for an immediate rematch given the circumstances.

“There has to be a rematch. Fair play to Jack he didn’t call the fight off but you saw what i was doing in there,” Eubank said.

“I was coming into the fight beautifully. We need to run it back right now. The decision went against me because they cut the fight short.”