Josh Warrington wants respect for the levels he showed in boxing prior to a shock loss against Mauricio Lara.
After 30 wins and some impressive names on his undefeated record, Warrington faced off against a relatively unknown quantity in Lara during lockdown.
That night in London saw ‘The Leeds Warrior’ stopped in the ninth in one of the upsets of the year, and his Mexican opponent moved on to become danger man of the division.
An attempted rematch ended in a draw from a clash of heads, and the rivalry remains somewhat unsettled.
Warrington, as per Boxing Scene, feels like he’s being defined by that one night – even despite wins over the likes of Kiko Martinez who has just knocked out fellow Brit, Jordan Gill.
“Give respect to Kiko, what a great fighter he is, but give some respect to my name as well. No disrespect to Jordan Gill, but I thought he was getting a bit giddy on a few interviews I’d seen, with his chum Leigh Wood. People forget what level I got to back in 2018-2019.
It’s like I beat everyone who was put in front of me comfortably, Selby, Frampton, Galahad and Takoucht and I was calling out the likes of Shakur Stevenson and Gary Russell Jr and I had everyone on my back. Then the pandemic hit and I’ve had one off night and that’s it. People all of a sudden forget my level.”
In a similar vein, the Leeds man went on to answer a question about facing Nottingham’s Leigh Wood – pointing out that he wants global fights to unify the featherweight belts.
“Yeah and no, because in my argument how many times am I going to be here. I get through Leigh Wood, and then there’s another domestic fighter. ‘Oh, here’s Nick Ball, he’s had a good win, maybe he [Warrington] needs to fight him before he goes to the States.’
How many fights do I have to go through before I get my chance to fight another champion? There’s a lot of fighters who have done a lot less than me and had the opportunity to go to America, or fight another one of the world champions and have a unification fight. How many times have I got to do it?”
Warrington faces Luis Alberto Lopez to defend his IBF World Featherweight Title in his hometown on December 10, live on DAZN.