“I’d be taking a backwards step” – Warrington addresses McCullough change

By Steve Wellings (@StevenWellings)

Josh Warrington will fight on May 13th but Belfast’s Marco McCullough will not be in the opposite corner. Despite the fight being announced by Queensberry Promotions, both McCullough and Warrington have stated that they’re moving in different directions.

“They announced it as McCullough but I don’t think that’s going ahead,” said Warrington to Irish-Boxing.com.

“I had a busy year last year, boxing Amagasa and Pajo Hyland, who were both highly ranked in the world rankings, and no disrespect to Marco but my sparring partner Isaac Lowe beat him so I’d be taking a backwards step in that sense. I want to be looking forward and testing myself in the fights that make you feel a bit scared and make you shit yourself a bit because that brings the best out of you.”

Warrington currently enjoys a No. 1 ranking with the WBC at featherweight and has half an eye on a fight with title holder Gary Russell Jnr. Also being discussed is an eliminator with No. 2 ranked Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz. That seems a tough prospect, however, given the slick boxing skills Diaz displayed in his last outing. That won’t be Josh’s next fight though, which is scheduled in his hometown of Leeds, and Kiko Martinez has been mooted as a potential opponent for the May date.

“Some boxing fans raised an eyebrow when Warrington parted company with promotional powerhouse Eddie Hearn and his Sky Sports platform but the Leeds fighter sees a big future with Frank Warren and his new TV link-up at BT.

I’m excited and Frank has obviously signed with BT Sports in a big deal so he’s using us as flag bearers for the promotion which is a bit of an honour really. The arena’s always going to be busy so I’m just looking to get back out there,” enthused Warrington.

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Eric Donovan joins Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill on Episode 2 of the Irish Boxing Show: