Josh Warrington is in the final stages of finalizing the opponent for his next fight.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the former two-time IBF featherweight titlist will headline a June 10 DAZN show from OVO Arena Wembley in London. The location is a departure from Warrington’s normal stomping grounds in his Leeds hometown but no less eager to top the bill in his quest to return to the title picture.
Warrington (31-2-1, 8KOs) will fight for the first time since his narrow defeat to Mexicali’s Luis Alberto Lopez to end his second IBF featherweight title reign last December 11 in his Leeds hometown. The majority decision in favor of the visiting fighter saw the 32-year-old Brit lose the title he’d just regained in a seventh-round knockout of Kiko Martinez just one fight earlier last March 26 also in Leeds.
An opponent was not yet confirmed for the June 10 show as this goes to publication. Boxing Scene has learned that at least three different featherweights are under consideration for the event, with confirmed offers submitted to—and accepted by—former title challengers Christopher ‘Pitufo’ Diaz (27-4, 17KOs) and James ‘Jazza’ Dickens (32-4, 12KOs).
Early talks suggested that Diaz was a favorite to land the fight. However, the 28-year-old Puerto Rican has waited more than a week for a response and is also in play to fight in late May in the event he doesn’t land the premium assignment versus Warrington.
Dickens does not presently have a fight scheduled. The 32-year-old southpaw from Liverpool has already pushed all in for what would be viewed as a cheeky domestic dustup.
“Josh Warrington’s team have reached out for a fight,” Dickens confirmed on Wednesday. “[A]ccepted EVERYTIHING… on your terms. Ball’s back in your court, champ. LET’S GO!”
One bout that is already confirmed for the event is a repurposed title fight.
As previously reported by Boxing Scene’s UK correspondent Elliot Foster, Australia’s Cherneka Johnson (15-1, 16KOs) puts her IBF junior featherweight title at stake versus first-time title challenger Ellie Scotney (6-0, 0KOs) of Catford, London. The bout was due to land on the May 20 undercard Chantelle Cameron-Katie Taylor undisputed junior welterweight championship in Dublin. However, it was pushed off the bill at the request of Cameron (17-0, 8KOs), who cited an irreparable conflict with former trainer Shane McGuigan—Scotney’s lead corrnerman.
Warrington’s original plan to begin 2023 was to face the winner of the Mauricio Lara-Leigh Wood WBA featherweight title fight.
Lara rallied to stop Wood in the seventh round of their February 18 clash to win the title on the road in Nottingham, England. There were talks of the free-swinging Mexico City native next facing Warrington for a third time, but those plans were nixed when Wood invoked a rematch clause. The second Lara-Wood fight will headline a May 27 DAZN show from AO Arena in Manchester, England.
There is the threat of the winner being ordered to instead face mandatory challenger Otabek Kholmatov (11-0, 10KOs). Should that fight not happen next, the May 27 date for Lara-Wood II puts the winner on the same relative schedule as Warrington who will go two weeks later—provided he secures an opponent in time for June 10.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox