Josh: No one is fighting me, so I got tropical fish
JOSH WARRINGTON is still trying to find the right kind of bait to hook his next opponent after Shakur Stevenson signed to fight Miguel Marriaga.
The IBF featherweight champion (above) was hoping for a unification fight against WBO top dog Stevenson in May.
But on Wednesday the American agreed to face Colombian Marriaga next month, meaning it is now unlikely he will be out again two months later.
That leaves Warrington searching for another champion to fight and, in the meantime, the frustrated Leeds Warrior is keeping his mind active by focusing on his new tropical fish tank.
Warrington said: “I love football, but I haven’t played since 2016 because my insurance policy wouldn’t cover me if I got injured.
“I go to the driving range, I’m trying to get into golf. I like to try learning new things.
“I’ve just bought a fish tank, it has been sat there for five months with no water in it, but I’m reading up on it.
“It’ll be for tropical fish — my dad (and trainer Sean O’hagan) has a tank with marine fish in it, but I don’t want to follow his route. Two minutes and he’ll be telling me what to do with it.”
The fact Warrington’s fellow world champions don’t seem to want to fight him is frustrating.
He added: “There’s the ideal world, but that is one thing and in boxing, as I found out many years ago, things never run as smoothly as they should.
“All you can do is win your fights to progress and make things happen.
“But even having a massive fan base, an unbeaten record and bringing a world title to the table doesn’t always get you what you want.
“We’re at the stage where we’re trying to get unification fights sorted, but since me winning the world title, two of the other champions, Leo Santa Cruz and Oscar Valdez, have moved up.
“Stevenson has picked up the WBO belt and Can Xu is the WBA regular champion — they say they’re game, but, when it comes to signing the papers, it’s a little bit different.
“All I want to do in my next fight is unify the division, to win another world title – and I know I’m capable of beating any other world champion.
“If I’d had a Christmas list, it would have been Gary Russell Jr, because he’s one of the longestreigning world champions in all the divisions.
“Then Can Xu, because in his last fight he threw 1,500 punches. That makes me drool – we wouldn’t stop throwing punches.
“Then Stevenson, he’s a young whipper-snapper and good with his gob.
“I just want to win another belt to make myself unified champion and then, after that, I’d be looking for fights at super-featherweight.”