Richie Woodhall vs Glenn Catley

Richie Woodhall retained the WBC super-middleweight championship by a disputed majority decision over Glenn Catley at the Telford Ice Rink on September 5, 1998. The champion received scores of 116-113 from Terry O’Connor and 115-113 from Marty Denkin, while Nicolas Hidalgo scored the 12 rounds level at 114-114. Woodhall weighed 167 pounds and Catley 168. There were no knockdowns or point deductions, and referee Richie Davies had little cause to intervene beyond the ordinary work of separating the fighters.

The contest was Woodhall’s first defence after his unanimous decision over Thulani Malinga at the same building the previous March. His intended opponent had been the WBC mandatory challenger, Vincenzo Nardiello. Don King won the original purse bid and proposed staging the fight in Italy, where Woodhall was expected to earn about £400,000, but the promotion did not proceed. The rights then passed to Frank Warren, and Nardiello subsequently withdrew with a calf injury. Catley accepted the championship match with only 12 days’ notice and was advanced to tenth in the WBC ratings. He received a reported £30,000 and had never previously boxed above the middleweight limit.

Woodhall, taller and accustomed to working behind a long left jab, began with the greater composure. Catley’s task was to cross the open ground without taking too many straight punches and then remain close enough to work. The champion took the first round on all three cards. The second was less conclusive: O’Connor called it even, Denkin gave it to Catley, and Hidalgo preferred Woodhall. Catley was already showing that he would not stand at the end of the champion’s reach. He slipped underneath the jab when possible and answered at close quarters.

Woodhall established his clearest period of control in the third, fourth and fifth rounds. O’Connor and Denkin awarded all three to him, judging his cleaner work at distance superior to Catley’s forward movement. Hidalgo gave Woodhall the third but Catley the fourth and fifth, an early indication that the challenger’s pressure was producing a different impression around ringside. Woodhall was scoring, but his jab lacked its customary authority and often fell short or passed over Catley’s head. Catley remained compact, moved inside the champion’s longer arms and made him work at an uncomfortable range.

The sixth and seventh brought a marked change. O’Connor and Denkin gave both rounds to Catley, while Hidalgo awarded him the seventh after narrowly preferring Woodhall in the sixth. Catley was now finding the champion with greater regularity after avoiding the first punch. Woodhall looked uncertain and couldn't re-establish firm control with the jab. The challenger’s preparation had been short, but he showed no obvious weakness in condition. He maintained the pressure, countered intelligently inside and obliged Woodhall to retreat or exchange rather than box at his chosen distance.

Woodhall recovered sufficiently to win an important stretch from the eighth through the tenth. All three judges gave him the eighth and tenth, while O’Connor and Denkin also awarded him the ninth. Hidalgo marked the ninth for Catley. Those rounds eventually supplied the champion with the margin on the two decisive scorecards. Woodhall’s greater reach and tidier single punches caught the officials’ attention when he created room, although he never settled into the commanding rhythm expected of him. Catley continued to advance and stayed close enough that the contest remained unsettled entering the final six minutes.

The challenger finished more strongly. Every judge awarded Catley the 11th and 12th rounds. He continued forcing the fight while Woodhall, tiring and conscious that his timing had deserted him, sought to preserve what advantage he might still possess. Catley had moved up eight pounds and entered with little notice, yet he was the man applying the pressure at the finish. Neither boxer was put down or seriously disabled, but Woodhall’s physical condition and confidence had plainly declined from the early rounds. Catley completed the contest still attacking, and his late work persuaded many at ringside that he had taken the championship.

The announcement produced relief rather than celebration in Woodhall’s corner and disbelief in Catley’s. O’Connor’s 116-113 card contained an unusual even second round and gave Woodhall seven rounds, Catley four. Denkin had Woodhall ahead by seven rounds to five, while Hidalgo divided the rounds six apiece. Catley believed that he had been deprived of a deserved victory, an opinion widely shared among observers. Woodhall did not attempt to defend the verdict. He admitted that he thought Catley had “nicked it,” described his own display as terrible and said that the challenger had been the better man on the night.

The replacement of the southpaw Nardiello by the orthodox Catley required Woodhall to alter preparations made for a different style, but it did not entirely explain his failure to establish the jab. Catley’s head movement and inside counters continually disrupted the champion, and his willingness to sustain pressure turned what had been expected as a homecoming defence into a narrow escape. Woodhall retained the WBC title and improved his record to 24-1, while Catley fell to 22-3 without losing standing. Catley later secured another championship opportunity and won the same WBC title in 2000 by stopping Markus Beyer. His performance at Telford had already shown that he belonged at world level, even though the official verdict denied him the belt.

I had Glenn Catley winning this fight. He took it on 12 days’ notice, moved up from middleweight and still made Richie Woodhall look uncomfortable in his first WBC title defence. Catley slipped the jab, got inside the champion’s longer reach and finished strongly, taking the last two rounds on every official card.

Woodhall was normally a disciplined, accurate boxer, but his timing was poor, and the jab kept falling short. He knew it himself. Before the decision was announced, he congratulated Catley and later admitted that Glenn deserved the victory. That tells you plenty.

The judges gave Woodhall a majority decision, but I believe the wrong man had his hand raised. Catley’s pressure was intelligent, not reckless, and he produced the more convincing work over the championship rounds. Thankfully, he later stopped Markus Beyer to win the same belt, because his performance at Telford had already proved he belonged at world level.