By Jake Donovan
A date is still being sought for Josh Warrington’s featherweight title defense versus Kid Galahad, but a location and hosting network has already been sought for the battle of unbeaten Brits.
Warrington’s second defense of his featherweight title will take place in his hometown of Leeds, England, where he first claimed the belt in a 12-round decision win over Lee Selby last May.
“100% the fight will be in Leeds. And it will be on BT (Sport), available to its subscribers,” promoter Frank Warren confirmed in a recent interview with BT Sport, for whom Warren serves as its primary boxing content provider. “That’s where we are now. Unless something else (big) happens and then we’ll turn it into Pay-Per-View… we’ll make the details known about that in the next few weeks.”
Warrington (28-0, 6KOs) enters the title fight on the heels of his biggest win to date, outpointing former two-division titlist Carl Frampton last December in Manchester, England. It marked Warrington’s first outside of Leeds since in a Feb. ’15 tuneup win in Germany.
Seven hometown appearances preceded the blockbuster event, interestingly most of which came while still promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing with whom Galahad remains aligned. Warren outbid Hearn in a recent purse bid hearing at International Boxing Federation (IBF) headquarters in New Jersey to secure the rights to the title fight.
Warren’s bid of $1.67 million was more than 15% above that of Hearn’s $1.444 million offer to secure the rights to the fight.
Warrington will earn $1,085,500 for what will mark the second defense of his title as per the terms of the IBF’s recently revised purse bid split from 75/25 to 65.35 in favor of the defending champion. Galahad (26-0, 15KOs) will collect $584,500 for his first shot at a major title.
Overall, the fight will mark Warrington’s 11th in his Leeds hometown.
Galahad (26-0, 15KOs) became the mandatory challenger following a 12-round win over Toka Khan-Clary in their title eliminator this past October. The bout marked Galahad’s U.S. debut, with the fight taking place in Boston, Mass. and shown live on DAZN USA and Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, both of with whom Hearn enjoys lucrative deals.
They also aired his most recent start, a stay-busy win last December in his hometown of Sheffield, England. The aforementioned bout in Boston marked Galahad’s lone fight outside of the United Kingdom, but his showdown with Warrington will mark his first in Leeds, which is roughly 45 minutes north of Sheffield.
Despite the hefty price tag that comes with the fight, Warren insists it will not come at cost to televised customers beyond their current subscription to BT Sport.
“This fight will be on BT Sport, unless something massive happens where we are required to take it up (to PPV),” Warren promises. “This is BT delivering to their subscribers—and us the promoters, Queensberry Promotions delivering to the subscribers—what they pay for.”
