Josh Warrington eyeing future Frampton fight
Tonight at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, popular featherweight Josh Warrington will take on Kiko Martinez for the WBC International rankings title.
The British, Commonwealth, and European champion has seemingly been on the cusp of world level for an eternity, and it is believed that he will be pushed toward title fights following tonight’s headline appearance on BT Sport.
While Warrington shares a heated rivalry fellow Brit Lee Selby, the Yorkshire man is open to all the big names in the 126bs division.
One such name is Belfast’s former WBA champion Carl Frampton – who twice beat Martinez for the European and IBF World super bantamweight titles.
Warrington would like a battle of the fan favourites, however he notes that it would need to be a world title unification and would need to be in his hometown of Leeds.
‘The Tooth Fairy’ explained to BoxNation that ‘I have to make it clear that I want a world title first. That means more to me than scalps.”
“Any fight with Carl happens after a world title has been secured. And if I can win a world title before Carl can reclaim one, we could definitely do this in Leeds and secure home advantage. There’s plenty of Leeds-Irish here. He’d come!”
The Yorkshire man is an admirer of ‘The Jackal,’ although he believes that Frampton’s power is not what it once was now that he is up at featherweight.
“I was a big fan of Carl’s as he came through,” admitted Warrinton.
“He’s a very intelligent boxer, good ring craft; knows when to box, when to scrap and he’s equally adept at both. He’s got good movement and I’m always impressed with his shot selection.”
“But Frampton’s power certainly doesn’t put me off. He wobbled plenty at super-bantam but isn’t quite as dramatic at feather. Look, at world level, they all hit you hard but, right now, there’s no Golovkins at nine stone.”
While he believes to have seen chinks in the Ulsterman’s armour, Warrington is not keen to put Frampton down, and claims it would be an honour to fight him.
The English boxer outlined that “I’ve seen a few things that I might be able to capitalise should I fight Carl.”
“Sometimes he switches off and gets drawn into the other man’s fight which I think is where he went wrong in the second Santa Cruz fight. Leo used his range and kept Frampton long, forced him to step back in straight lines.
“But I can’t be too critical. It would be a privilege to test myself in a scrap with Carl.”
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Joe O’Neill and Gavan Casey speak to Jason Quigley on Episode 5 of The Irish Boxing Show:
