Josh Warrington will make his return to the ring on April 19 after he decided to reverse his decision to retire and make another roll of the dice.
Warrington laid down his gloves on the canvas after defeat to Anthony Cacace last September, mimicking how an ancient warrior would lay down his sword to signal the end of his fighting days.
Warrington had decided before the Cacace fight that a third successive defeat – after a loss to Luis Alberto Lopez, followed by a stoppage defeat to Leigh Wood – would spell the end of his boxing career.
Since September, Warrington has made a U-turn on the decision to walk away at 34 years old, believing he still has more left in the tank.
Warrington will return April 19 on the undercard of Dalton Smith-Mathieu Germain in Sheffield, England, in the hope of getting a routine win before landing a big fight later this year.
The big fight that has been spoken of for Warrington by promoter Eddie Hearn is one against Ireland’s Michael Conlan.
Conlan, after pondering his own retirement, made a return to the ring in March against Asad Asif Khan in an eight-rounder in Brighton, England.
Conlan admitted to shedding rust early on, but he was able to defeat Khan by unanimous decision.
Khan has also been selected as Warrington’s “comeback” opponent, and one would think that the reasoning behind the decision is for Warrington to put on a better showing than Conlan.
The 19-6-1 (5 KOs) Khan is no easy touch for a return to the ring, as Conlan found out, and has been in the ring with high-level operators such as former world titleholder Can Xu, losing via stoppage in Round 5.
