Josh Warrington believes he can go down as ‘one of the best in British history’ as he targets Leo Santa Cruz fight and welcomes Carl Frampton rematch
The IBF featherweight champion sees unifications ‘within touching distance’ but must first overcome Kid Galahad
Josh Warrington has declared that he is closing in on unification fights to cement his status as a featherweight great.
The previously unfancied ‘Leeds Warrior’ has already come a long way in his career, rising up through the ranks to shock Lee Selby and claim the IBF world title.
Warrington then went on to beat Carl Frampton, again as underdog, to retain his belt and is now enjoying life as one of British boxing’s star men.
“I’m honoured to be given such credit,” the 28-year-old exclusively told marvelbet369.com, “It’s nice to be recognised as one of the country’s up and coming fighters or whatever you want to call it.
“It’s just an honour, 12 months ago I was just a 'run-of-the-mill' fighter and all of a sudden I’m spoke about in high regard.
“Beforehand it was about personal goals and goals for my friends and my family. Now we’re talking along the lines of legacy.
“Being able to go on and fight for other belts and unifying the division. We’ve had a fair few world champions over the past few years, but we haven’t had many unified world champions.
“I think if you get to that stage in your career, then you go down as one of the best in [British] history and that’s not unrealistic, that’s all within touching distance.”
FEATHERWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONS
WBA - Leo Santa Cruz
WBC - Gary Russell Jr
IBF - Josh Warrington
WBO - Oscar Valdez
Warrington insists he is fully focussed on his next fight against mandatory challenger Kid Galahad, June 15, but is understandably dreaming of what could come next.
When asked which of his fellow champions he would ideally like to unify against, he quickly responded: “Santa Cruz, just because I feel like he’s the biggest name in the division.
“He’s ranked number one in the Ring Magazine rankings and I’m ranked number two.
“So beat him to get to the top and hopefully when you get to the top you get one of them Ring Magazine belts and they look lovely.”
Following Warrington’s comprehensive victory over Frampton in December, the Belfast boxer considered retirement from the sport.
However, he's recently announced plans to fight on and has signed a co-promotional deal with Top Rank/ESPN alongside Frank Warren, with the aim of conquering Oscar Valdez for the WBO belt.
If he does so, his old foe would happily welcome a rematch.
“I hope that Carl does go on and win the world title,” Warrington continued.
“If he can do that and I get another world title, then there’s three belts on the line in a big domestic rematch.
“It’s mouth-watering, something people talk about for decades, never mind years.”