Josh Warrington is back on the horse and hoping to once again become a world champion when he faces Leigh Wood for the WBA featherweight title.
The fight comes 10 months after losing his IBF title in a tough fight with Luis Alberto Lopez. It was Warrington’s second career defeat, after suffering a stoppage loss to banger Mauricio Lara.
Wood, who also suffered a stoppage loss to Lara, got revenge earlier this year when he dominated the Mexican fighter over twelve rounds to reclaim the WBA strap.
Warrington, viewed as the underdog, will go after Wood on October 7 at the Sheffield Arena.
Eddie Hearn, who promotes both boxers, rejects the notion that Warrington is a fighter who is past his best.
The veteran promoter expects a lot of drama in the upcoming contest.
“I couldn’t disagree more about Josh Warrington being on the slide. He had a nightmare three or four rounds against Lopez, got hit by some massive shots, and I thought he did really well to get back in the fight. It’s a horrible, awkward, big punching style,” Hearn told The Yorkshire Post.
“Kiko Martinez, he busted his jaw and took some big shots in that fight, came through and stopped him. Lara was Lara. But I don’t see it. I think he looks fresh, I think he’s speaking really well, I think he’s motivated, I think it’s a 50/50 fight. A lot of people feel Josh is a favorite in this fight, because of the résumé and because of the style.
“The problem is with fight fans is that they’re so opinionated. But that’s a great thing as well because they’re so passionate. Last week, it was that Errol Spence is actually shot and shouldn’t have been at 147 [pounds], rather than that Terence Crawford was unbelievable. This will be ‘great fight but Josh Warrington is coming off two defeats in four’. One was a tight decision against arguably the number one in the division and the other was Mauricio Lara. We all know what happened there.
“We’re very critical as fight fans, whereas we should just say it’s arguably the number one featherweight in the world Leigh Wood against one of the great featherweights of the last five years. Love it or hate it, number one in the featherweight rankings for years was Josh Warrington. Sometimes, because he’s got a massive fanbase, fans talk about that rather than his résumé and the performances he’s given.”