GETTING SET FOR BELT BUSINESS

Jack Catterall returns to the ring on Saturday evening in Preston – live on BoxNation – where the British super lightweight champion will be entering into a new phase of his career under recently appointed trainer Jamie Moore. The 19-0 Jack, ranked at four by the WBO, takes up the story in his exclusive Fighter Diary…

FIGHTER DIARY BY JACK CATTERALL

MAKING A CHANGE to my training regime was not a decision that I took lightly and it is something that I spoke deeply with my family about and thought long and hard before making the call.

I came to the conclusion that it was in my best interests in order to further my career to make the change that was needed.

I have been through similar before, but I don’t feel like I have chopped and changed, as such. I know I left Lee (Beard), but my next trainer (Haroon Headley) worked with Lee so things led on from there and there was continuity.

I had three fights with Haroon after he split with Lee for different reasons. I give him thanks for these fights and for holding things down during this period.

However, this is a selfish sport and I have got to look out for myself. It just didn’t feel like it was clicking for me quite right so I have made the change.

Don’t get me wrong, some things were good and some things not so from my perspective, the same as it would be with every coach, I guess. I just felt I had more to give and I think under Jamie (Moore), being an ex-fighter and a more experienced coach, that I will be able to get that out of me and I feel it is coming together already in a short space of time.

I plumped for Jamie after having a little think about different trainers and speaking to my management team. Jamie had already crossed my mind and my team made the connection for me.

I went down and had a couple of sessions and then I didn’t need to go anywhere else.

I felt comfortable in the gym and Jamie is on the same wavelength as me with regards to where I am at in my career. He is a hungry trainer with a good group of fighters.

So we then had a couple of sit-down chats and it all went from there really.

Jamie’s stock has risen and I am made up for him. Obviously he had Tommy Coyle before and I think if he had packed it in – like he has mentioned himself – I think Jamie would have too.

That is the beauty of life in that you never know what is around the corner. One door closes and another one opens and Jamie has now got a great stable of fighters and the gym is bouncing.

Even though we are close in weight I have not sparred with Tommy since I have joined the pack because, with him having a fight coming up, it doesn’t make any sense for him to have southpaw sparring. I am sure it will happen before too long though.

What I am doing is working alongside the likes of Carl Frampton and Martin Murray and what it has done is spurred me on that little bit more.

Everyone seems to have big title fights coming up whereas in my last camp, although I loved the lads I was training with, I was working alongside people pushing on towards big fights.

Now I’m working with a bunch who are all pushing towards huge fights – British titles, world titles, Commonwealth titles – so everyone is grafting and pushing each other that bit more.

We are a fairly big group so you have got Jamie and Nigel Travis who work closely together. It gets split up where one day will be a group session and another will be a sparring day where everyone is given a time. On another day it will be staggered in groups of two or three so everyone gets the quality time they need.

I am in the position now under a new trainer where we need a fight to tune up the partnership and I am grateful to have been given a little six-round fight at the weekend.

This fight has come at the perfect time for me to get a few rounds under my belt against Nathan Hardy, although I would never underestimate anybody because he has much more to gain than I have out of this fight.

I would be focused on winning in style.

The plan after this is, I am told, will be defending my WBO Intercontinental title.

I just want to be involved in good fights where I can test my ability against other good fighters. There is a lot going on in the weight I am in and a lot of good fights to be made – so I want to be involved in them.

It makes perfect sense to pursue the WBO route because I have got a high ranking and, if everything goes to plan this weekend and after my next fight, a fight with Terry Flanagan is one that can be built if he wins the vacant world title.

I never set out to win the British title outright and it makes no sense not to defend my WBO belt because if I don’t I will be stripped of it. It is something I want to keep hold of and keep pushing up the rankings.

Keeping the British title – as we have seen with a lot of people recently – can be too time consuming and I don’t want to be stuck in that situation.

So we will see what happens, but first I have a job to do on Saturday.