Eddie Hearn has shed some light on the potential return of Josh Warrington.
The Leeds man has been on the sidelines after winning back the IBF featherweight title back in March.
Warrington dethroned Kiko Martinez, a former adversary of his, in a rematch at the First Direct Arena in his home city, stopping him inside seven rounds to pick up the red, white and gold belt that he had relinquished last year.
‘The Leeds Warrior’ suffered a fractured jaw and a broken hand in the victory and was recovering before coming back to the ring this winter.
And now Hearn, who re-signed Warrington (31-1-1, 8 KOs) after his spell with Frank Warren and BT Sport, has said that news of the 31-year-old’s next fight will soon be revealed.
During an Instagram Live session during the fight week build-up to Dalton Smith’s return against Sam O’Maison on Saturday for the vacant British title at super-lightweight at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield, he said:
“Warrington will be back out [around] October [or] November.
“He has a mandatory, a tough mandatory, and then I would like to make the Leigh Wood unification.”
A clash between Warrington and Nottingham’s hard-hitting WBA ‘regular’ featherweight champion Wood is one that has been talked about a lot of late, with Ben Davison, the trainer of Wood, calling the fight “ginormous”.
But it seems that before Warrington can go into an all-British domestic dust-up against Wood, he must come through the tough challenge of Mexico’s Luis Alberto Lopez.
Lopez is 28 and has a respectable record of 25-2 with 14 quick finishes. He has previously boxed in the UK, at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, last December, when he came over and dropped Isaac Lowe twice before stopping him with a body shot in the seventh of 12 scheduled rounds.
A fourth-round KO of Raul Chirino followed Stateside and the orthodox man has a fight scheduled against Yeison Vargas on August 20 at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego.
A formal announcement for the fight against Warrington is expected to come in due course, but it’s the clash with Wood that will have British boxing fans salivating.
Matchroom updates:
- Talks at “very early stages” for John Ryder to take on Mexico’s Jaime Munguia, the former WBO super-welterweight world champion, in co-promotion with Golden Boy
- Shannon Courtenay will be back in the ring in October. The former WBA bantamweight champion hasn’t boxed since losing her title on the scales the day before losing her unbeaten record to America’s Jamie Mitchell in Liverpool last October, but plans seem to be afoot for the 29-year-old (7-2, 3 KOs) to once again set out on an assault at global honours.
- Proposed Australia show that Matchroom was planning, with a headline of Liam Paro, the WBO number one at super-lightweight, against Brock Jarvis, will be pushed back to early October. Skye Nicolson is expected to feature on the bill, with other names to follow.