“You’re celebrating but before long you’re drinking your dinner through a straw,” Josh Warrington says as he reflects on his last victory. That was two years ago, an IBF featherweight title fight against Kiko Martínez that came with the downside of a broken jaw. It is a line that sums up the Leeds fighter, who has never shied away from the cold truth about his second career after a spell as a dental technician.
So it is no surprise that Warrington, 33, accepts that many people think he is now past it. Since beating Martínez, he lost his title to Luis Alberto Lopez and was then knocked out by Leigh Wood in the seventh round while up on the cards last October.
One win in almost five years means the IBF has refused to sanction Saturday’s super-featherweight duel with Anthony Cacace on the Anthony Joshua-Daniel Dubois undercard at Wembley Stadium. The minor IBO title is on the line, but more importantly this is a fight that could propel Warrington back into the big time or hasten the end.
Warrington does not shrink away from worries about retirement and has previously said he fears for his memory. “I am still terrified of it,” he says of life without boxing. “But at the same time I have realised that when the day comes I will accept it and get on with the next chapter of my life. I’m looking into different ventures. I will miss camp life and camp structure, so every time I go into the gym I make sure I enjoy it because it won’t last forever.”
If you hear a resigned note in that, it should be stressed that Warrington is adamant he still has a lot more to give. “If the drive wasn’t there I wouldn’t be here. It’s too dangerous. I wouldn’t almost kill myself every session. If I didn’t push myself to the absolute limit then I would call it a day. I’m not thinking about belts, I just want to be in exciting fights. That’s what you get remembered by.”
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He has had some great ones, notably the title win against Lee Selby at Elland Road and a brilliant display against Carl Frampton in Manchester. He still talks fondly of going to a Leeds United match around that time and being in the tunnel when the then manager, Marcelo Bielsa, was walking towards him. “He has his head down like he does and I was hoping I might just catch his eye,” says the Leeds fan. “He’s almost gone by and then he comes over, puts his hands on my shoulders and says ‘champion’. That’s enough for me.”
But this is a brutal, unforgiving sport. Recently, he sat down with Frampton for a broadcaster and rewatched their fight. Frampton explained how hard it was for his wife to watch him fight after that night. “I could understand that,” he says. “I was talking to my wife about it the other night. At one point I was invincible. I’d faced every style. I’d been hit but never been down, in sparring or a fight.
“Then I box this unknown Mexican behind closed doors [Mauricio Lara] and get smashed to pieces for nine rounds. My wife had seen me come home with a black eye or shorts covered in blood, but when she sees me knocked out that rams home how hard this is.”
He will not let his six-year-old twins attend fights, but he was actually fighting well against Wood until the last decisive punches altered his career trajectory again. Cacace, older at 35, looked great last time out against Joe Cordina, on the undercard for Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over Tyson Fury, and has a solitary defeat.
“This is going to make me sound cocky, but at times I felt like it was a walk in the park against Woods,” Warrington says. “Then I got told off by [referee] Michael Alexander [for rabbit punches]. He said ‘anymore of that and I’m going to have to pull you out, Josh’. I thought, ‘what have I done wrong?’ My head went. I lost it and went diving in. The rest is history.
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“But people told me, ‘Bloody hell, Josh, it was like watching you v Selby again.’ Then I beat Martínez, and went to fight Lopez where I was shocking for six rounds. I’m not afraid to admit it. I just stood there and let him tee off. I didn’t give anything until my old man in the corner said ‘wake up’. I did and nearly had him out of there. I thought I did enough to win but started too late. I’ve had some hard fights but I know there are some good nights left in me.”
Cacace is flushed with confidence after causing Cordina so many problems. “Joe’s style was perfect for me,” he said. “Josh Warrington’s is even better.” Nevertheless, he paid his opponent due credit. “I don’t believe any of that crap that’s being said about him — that he’s over the hill. His last two performances were good, he just fell short.”
Nothing has come easily in recent years for Warrington, but he feels super-featherweight suits him. The terrifying prospect of retirement will loom large if he suffers another bad defeat, but beyond the champagne and blended dinners, he craves the buzz of one more big night. “You get to the stage where you don’t give a chuff what it is or where it is,” he says. “You just want to have a great fight.”
