Maxi Hughes hails Josh Warrington as British boxing great

[Ruthless-RKO]

Maxi Hughes hails Josh Warrington as British boxing great

Maxi Hughes has been friends with stablemate Josh Warrington for as long as he can remember, but now Warrington is on the verge of having to make one of his toughest decisions.

“The Leeds Warrior” Warrington lost to Leigh Wood last month in Nottingham, England, well outpointed over 12 rounds, and is said to be considering his future.

“It is hard because Josh has given his life to [boxing],” said Hughes.

“His whole life is boxing. But at the same time, look at everything that he’s achieved. He’s just achieved everything in sport. He’ll definitely go down as a British great.

“It is hard. I do get the difficult decision of not wanting to stop, but I feel like if I were in Josh’s shoes, I would probably … the chatter we had in the changing room after the fight, I know how much it meant to him to want to get that win. But it were almost like, ‘We felt good in training, but it just wasn’t quite there on the night.’ And it’s hard to accept that. Your head can see [the openings in a fight], but your body can’t react and your body can’t do what your head wants it to. So it’s hard to accept, but I think he’s there or thereabouts with that decision.”

Warrington’s father and trainer, Sean O’Hagan, had said that the loser of Wood-Warrington would likely be targeted by up-and-comers hoping to land the scalp of a former titleholder.

Hughes will find himself in a similar position when the 36-year-old veteran fights Pierce O’Leary, who is 18-0 (10 KOs), in Dublin on March 14.

O’Leary, a weight up from Hughes, will be hoping to cash in on Hughes’ reputation.

But if Warrington were to hand one of those potential stars a loss, he would be right back in the picture.

“That is the thing with boxing,” Hughes said. “As we’ve seen with myself, you’re only one phone call away from being straight back in a big fight. Someone else – obviously it was a former rival of ours with Josh, Kiko Martinez – he went out, traveled away, took the fights. … If Josh did want to continue, he’s got a massive fan base in Leeds. And I’m sure if he said, ‘Right, I’m coming back,’ they could get an opponent in and it could sell Leeds Arena out again. And get a win there, you’re back in the mix. But how many times do you keep doing that?”

Warrington, 32-5-1 (8 KOs) and now 35, has always spoken of wanting to take his fans on the rampage in Las Vegas for a major fight. On several occasions, it seemed close. Hughes would feel for Warrington if he never got that Sin City showdown.

“I reckon wherever he fought in America for that fight week, it would have been like walking around Leeds and being in the UK, similar to Ricky [Hatton]. And the Leeds fans were desperate for that away day, as well. A lot of them were always asking Josh, ‘When are we going away? We’re ready. I’ve put some money to the side. I’ve got my wife happy.’ I suppose, in a way, I had the two fights in America [George Kambosos Jnr and William Zepeda], and he was there for both of them, so he got to see it and be a part of it in the corner. So, you know, I’ve given him a little bit of it.”

[SeanBrennan]

He’s not my cup of tea but he’s definitely a great British fighter imo

[margaret thatcher]

nowhere close to a great, but he's had a very good career. it's easy to forgot how lowly rated he was when he was coming up, people kept thinking he'd lose at the next level, but then he kept winning all the way to a world title, after sweeping the other belts. and he started without much hype, i remember seeing him the first time and he was just some bland undercard bout.

i really liked him a lot in his early days, soured a bit with all the fouling later on, but still really respect him

[Ruthless-RKO]

Is he on anyone Top 10 Brits that turned pro after 2000

[dookus]

nowhere close to a great, but he's had a very good career. it's easy to forgot how lowly rated he was when he was coming up, people kept thinking he'd lose at the next level, but then he kept winning all the way to a world title, after sweeping the other belts. and he started without much hype, i remember seeing him the first time and he was just some bland undercard bout.

i really liked him a lot in his early days, soured a bit with all the fouling later on, but still really respect him

That's very true, the European title was a big win, I remember being overjoyed that he'd done it. Very good career all things considered

[Boxerbeetle]

Nowhere near great, and one of the fighters I dislike most.

[KiwiRider]

Nowhere near great, and one of the fighters I dislike most.

Same.
Three high level opportunities he didn't deserve, and the dirtiest professional fighter out of the entire UK this century.

[Grilling Machine]

Dirtier than Derry?

[margaret thatcher]

Nowhere near great, and one of the fighters I dislike most.

Same.
Three high level opportunities he didn't deserve, and the dirtiest professional fighter out of the entire UK this century.

what were the opportunities he didnt deserve?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Nowhere near great, and one of the fighters I dislike most.

Same.
Three high level opportunities he didn't deserve, and the dirtiest professional fighter out of the entire UK this century.

what were the opportunities he didnt deserve?

Maybe the title shot against Kiko

[tigermoth87]

Nowhere near

A few decent wins against B-level British fighters like Selby, a shot Frampton etc, got spanked by Lara. Jumped on Kiko's washed up corpse like Jimmy Saville to steal his fluked title and then spent the past five years get spanked by everyone and their mums.

[dookus]

"lubricated head" was a great nickname for him

[THEBUTCH]

The run of continuous victories Warrington had from 2012 to the end of 2019 was excellent.

He went through the levels stage by stage but I didn't expect him to topple Selby, but indeed he did. The Frampton win was unexpected but again Warrington proved his worth.

These wins were big nights for Warrington and Leeds. Good times as I remember them on B0xnati0n.

I don't think the break through the Covid lockdowns did Josh any favours because he had such good momentum and I personally would have loved to see him fight Oscar Valdez.

Even in recent years a couple of the defeats he suffered were good scuffles against Lopez & the first contest with Wood.

[mickey1975]

He had an incredible career. He was never meant to beat Samir Mouneinme in his backyard. Samir was underrated, only lost to Ryan Walsh as well as Warrington.

[maley1984]

He had an incredible career. He was never meant to beat Samir Mouneinme in his backyard. Samir was underrated, only lost to Ryan Walsh as well as Warrington.

Didn't he take that fight at short notice in the away corner.. He smashed samir.

[maley1984]

Followed jw since his English title win over my cousin. Wouldn't call him a great but he certainly had a fantastic career and got a city behind him. Sold thousands of tickets was always told he couldn't make the next step but he did. English champion and every title up to world champion.

[Noxy]

He‘s a British great. He could sell out arenas and won a World title. The atmosphere at his fights was mustard. He‘ll be remembered for a long time.