Josh Taylor says he is “still one of the game’s top dogs” despite losing to Teofimo Lopez – and will show his class in his rematch with Jack Catterall.

The Scotsman, 33, will fight England’s Catterall again in Leeds on 27 April.

Taylor has fought once since winning the original Catterall bout – losing his WBO crown to Lopez last June.

He said: “Just because I lost one fight doesn’t mean I’m finished. I know I’m still a good fighter and I just want to send the message out there.”

Taylor won a contentious split decision against Catterall in Glasgow in February 2022 when his WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO light-welterweight belts were on the line.

At Madison Square Garden in New York 15 months later, he suffered the first defeat of his professional career against American Lopez.

Some have pointed to that loss and Taylor’s sub-standard performance in victory over Catterall as evidence the Tartan Tornado’s best days are behind him, but the former undisputed light-welterweight champion disagrees.

“Just because someone has a couple of bad performances, does that mean that they are finished?”, said the Edinburgh fighter, who had vacated his other three world titles before losing to Lopez.

“Look at all the fighters throughout history, all the great fighters in the past – Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, Muhammed Ali – they all lost multiple times. They’re still great fighters though, aren’t they?

“I’m the only undisputed champion in the UK. One in 65 million people to ever do it and I’m the one that’s done it, so how can I be finished with one loss?”

Leeds’ First Direct Arena will be the venue for the non-title bout following a prolonged spell of negotiations and insults between former world champion Taylor and Catterall.