The first thing Josh Warrington did when arrived in the bubble this week was redecorate. Warrington likes to cover his hotel room walls with motivational statements and not content with some hand scrawled signs, he has had professional signs made up.
Warrington makes his return after 16 months on the sidelines at the SSE Arena, Wembley, on Saturday night without his IBF featherweight title as he faces Mauricio Lara, of Mexico. It is not the fight that Warrington had been dreaming of throughout lockdown.
But Warrington needs a win if he is to keep on track for some big fights. The three names Eddie Hearn has in mind for his after Lara are Can Xu, Gary Russell Jr and Emanuele Navarette, at least one of which he plans to put on in the United States.
“I am desperate to take Josh Warrington to America,” Eddie Hearn said. “Can you imagine Vegas, or New York, MSG, with 10,000 Leeds fans? And when the world gets back to normal, they will be absolutely chomping at the bit for a trip like that. I remember he took 800 people to Germany for a six-rounder. I think the venue are still paying for it.”
Warrington, more than most, has a reputation as a big ticket-seller, but there will be no fans at Wembley tonight as the UK lockdown continues.
“Let's be honest it's going to be different, the last eight years or so I've walked out in front of 1,000s, fans throwing pints,” he said. “They put I Predict A Riot on and that has been my time to switch on, the initial walk to the ring is going to be a little bit different but once the first bell goes the horse blinkers go on and it is time to switch on. It has been a long time out. A lot of frustration is going to be taken out. The initial entrance might be a bit different but once we are in there it is all guns blazing."
Another thing that has taken a lot of getting used to is being an ex-world champion. He won the title in 2018 from Lee Selby at Elland Road and he was not expecting to be giving it up.
“I worked so hard to achieve that dream of being top-of-the-tree and then the politics of boxing takes the belt, not me going out on my shield or losing a hard fight,” Warrington said.
“But I had three great defences and although initially it hurt, I am not going to be defined by the belt. I know where we are going and this is just something that had to be done for my career to go forward.
“I don’t want to look back and think ‘I won the IBF but…’ I want to be happy with the decisions I have made. There are more belts and bigger fights out there and I know it will pay off.
“People think the belts have pulling power but boxing has changed and sometimes fans just want ‘big fights’. We now have YouTubers selling out boxing shows, you can argue against it but that’s what people want. People want to see the best fight the best. I am a former world champion now, I am hearing it all the time from my old man. He keeps introducing me as ‘Leeds’ former world champion’ to take the piss out of me.”
Giving up the title rather than face Kid Galahad is not something he regrets.
“I have beaten him three times, my career is not going to be defined by Kid Galahad,” he said.
Indeed, one of the signs on the wall of his hotel rooms says #Beyondthebelts.
“I’m not going to be defined by that one belt,” Warrington said. “We’ve gone beyond that. It’s about bigger fights, bigger stages.”
Another says: “Push yourself because no one is going to do it for you”.
“I’ve got a book of them,” Warrington said. “I’d have them all over the house of I could but my missus isn’t too keen.”
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.
