Arnold Barboza Jr edges Jack Catterall to become interim WBO super lightweight champion

Arnold Barboza Jr made a beeline to a corner of the ring, propped himself up on the ropes and threw his hands up in celebration, fully believing he had done enough to edge Jack Catterall in Manchester, England, and live on DAZN , on Saturday night.

Judges inside Co-op Live agreed, as two of them scored it 115-113 for Barboza who earned the split-decision victory to become the new interim WBO super lightweight world titleholder and mandatory challenger to WBO 140-pound world champion Teofimo Lopez. The other judge scored it 115-113 for Catterall.

"I got my respect today, my father got his respect today," Barboza told DAZN in the ring.

About fighting Lopez next, Barboza tacked on: "Man, anybody could get it any day of the week ending in the letter 'y.'"

After 12 tactical, nip-and-tuck rounds, the judges credited Barboza's volume punching and tenacity over Catterall's patience and well-timed left hands. DAZN News scored it 115-113 for Catterall but if there was a push it could have been that the Chorley man was a bit too patient at times, allowing the busier Barboza to sway judges while he waited to unload damaging output.

That said, Catterall refused to make any excuses during the aftermath.

"Tricky fight, close fight," Catterall said. "There's no arguments. Congratulations to Barboza. I thought I did just enough in there tonight but that wasn't good enough."

While Catterall seemed content loading up on his left hand and using it to counter, Barboza let his quicker hands go, touching the British fighter's arms early before firing away with rapid combinations in bursts that landed from the distance and in cramped quarters toward the biggest victory of his career.

With the win, Barboza improves to 31-0 with 11 KOs, while Catterall (30-2, 13 KOs) had his four-fight win streak snapped.

Barboza added in jubilation: "This belt is coming home!"