Josh Warrington and promoter Frank Warren have been criticized for the opponent Warrington will face Saturday night.
Warren reminded cynics, however, that Warrington wanted a featherweight title unification fight after edging England’s Kid Galahad in a mandatory title defense June 15. Once Warren was unable to secure fights against former featherweight champions Leo Santa Cruz or Oscar Valdez, both of whom moved up to 130 pounds, Warren and Warrington decided to stay busy by making an optional defense of his IBF featherweight title.
His challenger Saturday night, France’s Sofiane Takoucht, is ranked No. 4 among the IBF’s 126-pound contenders. Their scheduled 12-rounder will headline a card at First Direct Arena in Leeds, England, Warrington’s hometown.
Most sports books list Warrington (29-0, 6 KOs) as a 50-1 favorite to defeat France’s Takoucht (35-3-1, 13 KOs). The 33-year-old Takoucht has won seven consecutive bouts, but against a very low level of opposition overall.
Warrington, meanwhile, will try to win much more definitively than he did against Galahad (26-1, 15 KOs). Their 12-round fight resulted in a split-decision win for Warrington on June 15 in Leeds.
“He is the best featherweight on the planet,” Warren said of Warrington during a press conference Wednesday in Leeds. “There’s no doubt about it. And if he was so bad last time out, then why didn’t Santa Cruz or Valdez wanna fight him? They were offered big money to fight him. That’s all you need to look at. And we’re here now, you know, fighting the best available contender in the IBF ratings. That’s who he’s fighting, and we can’t take it for granted. This fella here, he’s not here to, as they say, to make up numbers. He’ll come to fight.”
Warren’s explanation notwithstanding, Santa Cruz or Valdez obviously would’ve been much more imposing opponents for Warrington.
Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 KOs), of Rosemead, California, gave up his WBA featherweight title to move up four pounds. He’ll face Houston’s Miguel Flores (24-2, 12 KOs) for a vacant version of the WBA’s 130-pound title November 23 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Valdez (26-0, 20 KOs), of West Covina, California, relinquished the WBO featherweight championship, rather than making a mandatory defense against Shakur Stevenson (12-0, 7 KOs). Valdez will meet Mexico’s Andres Gutierrez (38-2-1, 25 KOs) in Valdez’s 130-pound debut November 30 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
Warren didn’t mention whether he attempted to make a fight for Warrington with WBC featherweight champ Gary Russell Jr. (30-1, 18 KOs). Nevertheless, the longtime promoter considers Warrington an elite-level fighter.
“He is something special,” Warren said. “Leeds have got a special, special champion here. And in years to come, they’re gonna – I know you appreciate him – but you’re really gonna appreciate him for what he is. Because he can unify these titles, if we can make the fights. But first of all, as he said himself, he can’t take his eye off the ball. This guy’s standing in front of him, and he’s gotta dispose of him. And he’s gotta do it in style. And that’s what it’s all about on Saturday.”
BT Sport will televise the card headlined by Warrington-Takoucht in the United Kingdom (7:30 p.m. BST). It’ll be streamed by ESPN+ in the United States (2:30 p.m. EDT/11:30 a.m. PDT).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
