THE sight of Arnold Barboza Jr and Teofimo Lopez verbally jawing at one another through a video call during last month's Last Crescendo bill certainly filtered through to Jack Catterall. Seeing them confirmed for a championship clash in Times Square on May 2 days later would've felt even worse.

Agonizingly close to becoming WBO world interim junior-welterweight champion, the Chorley man (30-2, 13 KOs) fell narrowly short in his February 15 main event against a disciplined Barboza display on enemy soil.

Judges Leszek Jankowiak and Patrick Morley both had the final score 115-113 in the American's favor after a tense 12-round contest at Manchester's Co-Op Live Arena, overruling Marcus McDonnell's 115-113 Catterall card for a stinging split decision defeat.

It comes three years to the month he was controversially beaten on a split on the scorecards by then-undisputed titleholder Josh Taylor for a first career defeat and subsequently endured a rough rebuilding spell with inactivity ultimately out of his control.

However, while his ego may have been bruised, the savvy southpaw is said to be in good spirits - evidenced by a self-deprecating tweet responding as WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson mirrored his walkout song against spirited stand-in Josh Padley, hoping the 27-year-old produced a better performance afterwards.

That came after a week where Jamie Moore, the 31-year-old's trainer, spoke with optimism about the future for a fighter suffering another setback, albeit now hungry to atone for it.

"Jack can perform much, much better, for whatever reason, he had an off night. I didn't think Barboza was particularly good either, it was one of those fights that could've gone either way and unfortunately, we didn't get it. He was coming into it in the best form he's ever been in, so again, no excuses," Moore told BoxingScene.

Catterall's promoter, Matchroom chief Eddie Hearn, will know time is of the essence for a 13-year pro twice falling short at world championship level.

There were mumblings of a in-house matchup with Dalton Smith (17-0, 13 KOs), though the 28-year-old Yorkshireman was recently inserted as WBC mandatory challenger for Alberto Puello (24-0, 10 KOs), who eked out a split decision win over Sandor Martin on the Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach Jr prelims last weekend.

Moore also said Catterall-Smith has been a fight "spoken about internally for quite a while," so although there is reticence to make it at present given their respective pathways, it remains a possibility later down the line. Speaking to The Ring last week, Hearn said signs are positive for both.

"It's still early days but all my conversations with Jack's team are that they want to jump back into a big fight. You could either do a ten-rounder or down in the deep end, he's still one big win away from fighting for a world title.

Dalton is a big domestic fight for sure but he's WBC mandatory, will probably fight around April or May time and it won't be someone like Catterall, just a competitive one before [the Puello-Martin winner]."

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told The Ring last month that, injuries permitting, the Puello-Martin winner would get one voluntary title defence before being called upon to face Smith by the year's end.

Catterall publicly thanked the WBO, and its president Gustavo Olivieri, for keeping him high in the rankings after their latest update. He sits third at the time of writing, with No.1-ranked Alfredo Santiago (17-2, 8 KOs) defending his NABO 140-pound title last weekend with an eighth-round stoppage win over Javier Fortuna.

Meanwhile former junior-welterweight titleholder Isaac Cruz (27-3-1, 18 KOs) sits second and is mooted to be facing Keyshawn Davis (13-0, 9 KOs) down a weight class for his newly-won lightweight title in April.