NOTTINGHAM, England – Josh Warrington put his gloves to the canvas in a 2024 loss to Anthony Cacace – and it was all over.
Fifteen years into his professional career, a two-time world champion who proudly led the city of Leeds through some amazing nights. Everything is ready.
And then it wasn’t. It’s never that straightforward. Three weeks later he was back in the gym with even more to offer.
“It’s strenuous to explain to people what it is, what makes you want to get back to it,” Warrington tells ESPN on the eve of Saturday’s rematch with Leigh Wood in Nottingham.
“You’ve been hurt, hit in the head, and you’re putting your body through so much. But I don’t know, buddy. It’s a drug.”
If Warrington left, no one would blame him or blame him. As the first men’s world champion from Leeds, he put the city on the map in boxing terms, giving working-class fans their own icon to emulate. Title win over Lee Selby at Elland Road, defense against Carl Frampton and Kid Galahad. The things that dreams are made of.
But it’s the highs that are making a comeback for fighters. A feeling most of us will never experience. Emerging from the smoke with thousands cheering your name. Going through the ropes, it’s just you, your opponent and your fans who want to move you forward. Creating memories.
“It’s stimulating to be part of something that can be talked about for years to come… You’re making history,” Warrington says. “When I set out, I never thought something like this would happen, but I have achieved some amazing things over the course of my career.”
The humble warrior catches himself, “I’m blowing smoke on my ass! But that’s why you’re part of it.”
And here it is. A boy from a part of the country, many say, was forgotten by the decision-makers and elites of London who dared to dream and make it all come true. No wonder it’s strenuous to break away from it.
But there is also something else. The frosty truth that every warrior must face.
Warrington did not escape this reality, although he did not neglect it. “In my head, I had had enough,” he says. “I was a bit lost because I always had an idea of what I wanted to do after boxing, but where to start?”
Warrington runs his business away from the sport, but he wasn’t ready to walk away from the structure, discipline and routine that boxing had imposed on him for as long as he could remember.
“Every year you look three or four months ahead and suddenly… BAM! It’s over,” he explains. “That routine just gets thrown out, the diet is thrown out, the schedule is thrown out and you just become a ‘civilian.’
– I guess that scares me.
Of course, Warrington didn’t make this journey alone. Dad and coach Sean O’Hagan has been with him through the ups and downs. If anyone would step in and say enough is enough, it would be his own father. But as he prepared for his rematch with Wood, the camp was like traveling back in time.
“Honestly, the whole camp felt like the clock had been turned back five years,” O’Hagan said.
O’Hagan himself admits that’s what he was going to say, but the feeling is that Warrington still have one or two special nights ahead of them.
“For me personally, these are always special nights,” he tells ESPN. “We’ve been here a long time. Of course we’re proud, we’ve put Leeds on the map, haven’t we.”
His face lights up as he describes the moment of the upcoming fight. The strenuous work has been done, now it’s time to dance.
“Whether we’re home or away, it doesn’t matter where we are because you step into the ring… All you have is a little square, no one has anywhere to go, and you’re there and it takes over. The adrenaline is pumping, your eyes are on your opponent, you just go to war.”
“So it doesn’t matter if you’re home, it doesn’t matter if you’re gone. You’ve got a job to do.
“I can’t wait… A special night.”
Indeed, another great opportunity under the lights is coming. The rematch has everything. Competition, suspense, plot and, in Warrington’s case, redemption. He believes he was unfairly stopped in his first fight with Wood. The Leeds faithful now travel 73 miles south to their rival city with the promise of another unforgettable fight and the hope that their boy will be picked up.
Last or not, Warrington will enjoy it and feel content with his career.
“If I turned to a youthful Josh Warrington and said, ‘When you grow up, you’re going to be a world champion twice and you’re going to have so many great memories,’ I wouldn’t have believed it.
“But you dream…”
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