Josh Warrington faces bitter rival Leigh Wood for the second time in a huge rematch in Nottingham on Saturday night.
Leeds warrior Josh Warrington has made a retirement admission with vow ahead of Saturday evening’s rematch against bitter rival Leigh Wood in Nottingham.
Wood and Warrington will lock horns again at the Motorpoint Arena on Saturday night, nearly two and a half years after Wood’s dramatic victory against the Leeds fighter in Sheffield back in October 2023.
Wood’s victory subjected Warrington to just a third defeat of his career and a fourth eventually followed in September of the following year against Belfast fighter Anthony Cacace in an IBO world super featherweight title shot at Wembley Stadium.
The defeat - by unanimous decision - had Warrington contemplating retirement, the Leeds star admitting he had actually retired for three weeks but without an official announcement.
Warrington, though, ultimately returned to the ring to beat Asad Asif Khan the following April and the 35-year-old says his figures in the gym are now getting “better and stronger” ahead of Saturday’s eagerly-awaited rematch against Wood.
Huge Leeds United fan Warrington’s build-up to the fight included a pitch side appearance and introduction to the crowd during the half-time interval of the huge Premier League showdown against Nottingham Forest earlier this month.
Wood, a massive Forest follower, gave the night a miss, leaving Warrington to instead a bring a cardboard cut-out of his bitter rival on to the Elland Road turf.
The pair, though, will come face to face in the ring for the second time om Saturday night, Warrington declaring himself in fantastic shape and vowing to show it against his Nottingham counterpart.
Speaking at the fight's pre-match press conference, Warrington said: "In 2024 I'd retired for three weeks. I never officially announced it but I mourned my career for a little bit and then decided to continue because I felt like I had more than enough to do some things in this sport still, even though I have achieved so much with lots of great memories over the years.
“I'll show that on Saturday night."
"But in the gym it keeps on getting better and better. I'm of a more mature mindset but the numbers keep on getting better and stronger. I've trained hard, I've had a nice kick up my backside and things to keep me training hard throughout but I feel fantastic and I'll show that on Saturday night."
Asked by Eddie Hearn if he believed he could win the fight by stoppage - contrary to Wood's claim that he would stop the Leeds fighter himself in the first half of the fight - Warrington said: "Absolutely. That's the only way I see it going to be honest with you.
"I can't really see what Leigh is going to do differently to make it go quicker.
"He's tried to punch me in the first fight, we've boxed him we outfought him, we want on the back foot, we did everything we had to do but obviously left ourselves very open and he did catch me with a fantastic shot and five little clean ones after that.
“Very, very confident”
"The fight was over and that's how quickly this sport can be changed. But we know what not do this time around and what to maybe press on a little bit more with so I'm very, very confident the fight will go early."
Wood, donning a Forest scarf at the press conference, declared: "I'm confident. That's not me thinking it's going to be easy because I don't think it's going to be easy. I'm not expecting it to be easy, nor do I really want it to be easy because I actually feel better when I actually go through it a little bit and get the victory, as you have seen in previous fights.
"But I'm confident and I know what I need to do."
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