Leeds-born Josh Warrington knocked out Spanish boxer Kiko Martinez to claim to become a two-time IBF featherweight champion.
Warrington claimed the victory in front of a home crowd at the First Direct Arena on Saturday night, with the boxing match being stopped in the seventh round, despite the Englishman suffering a broken jaw.
The British boxer doesn’t want to stop there, however, and is now turning his attention to fighting in the United States.
Promoter Eddie Hearn believes his fighter is more than ready to fight stateside.
“I can see 20,000 of Josh’s fans heading for Las Vegas,” said Hearn.
“Maybe that’s not quite in the dimension of Ricky Hatton’s 30,000 for his big fights there against [Floyd] Mayweather and [Manny] Pacquiao, but it will make for one hell of a scene along The Strip.”
Who might Warrington fight next?
Two potential opponents for Warrington if he were to make the trip across the pond would be Mexican fighters Leo Santa Cruz, who holds the WBA title proper, and Emanuel Navarrete, who held the WBO belt.
There was talk of Warrington possibly heading for an early retirement, but after this impressive display he seems to be looking to move on to even bigger and better things.
Marca
