IT’S MAKE OR BREAK JOSH

Warrington knows time is running out to realise dream of being undisputed champ

JOSH WARRINGTON has been warned he will blow his dream unification fights if he slips up against Mauricio Lara tonight.

Warrington returns after 16 months out against Lara at The SSE Arena Wembley and Eddie Hearn is working on landing the former IBF featherweight king two worldtitle shots this year.

Hearn is lining up

WBA title holder Xu

Can in April and then

WBC champ Gary

Russell Jr in the summer, when hopefully fans will be allowed to attend again.

Mexican Lara is a step down for Warrington after four successive world title fights and his dad and trainer Sean O’hagan (above) has told him he could lose everything if he is complacent. “I’ve mentioned this to my old fella and he’s said, ‘Listen, you’ve got to be switched on because if you lose this you will be back down to International level’,” said the unbeaten Leeds Warrior.

“He said, ‘You can say goodbye to all your big unification fights and belts – that’s you starting again and I don’t think you have enough time to be starting again’. “That makes my heart beat faster, my palms start sweating and that surge of adrenaline – and that’s what I want, pressure, I thrive under it. I’ve worked 11 years to get here. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Mickey Mouse in the other corner, I’m in there to hurt him and to progress.”

Warrington turned 30 in November and knows the clock is ticking on his time at elite level. The pandemic ended a planned clash with Can last summer and he relinquished his IBF crown to avoid another defence against mandatory challenger Kid Galahad. “I thought I would be unified champion by the time I was 30,” said Warrington (above, and inset with Lara).

“When I signed with Eddie in early 2020 we talked about having a unification fight in Headingley and that was going to be Xu Can.

“I’ve got a time frame of what I want to achieve. That got delayed due to Covid, so I’ve got to stay focused, do the business and get into these big fights as soon as possible.”

Warrington thrives on the energy from his fans and does not know how he will cope fighting behind closed doors.

“I’ve been trying to imagine what it might be like,” he said. “When I come out and they announce, ‘Now making his way to the ring, the Leeds Warrior’, and all I can see are cameramen and cleaners, it’s going to be a bit different.”

■ Josh Warrington v Mauricio Lara is live on Sky Sports Arena and Main Event from 10pm.

THE withdrawal of ‘elite’ status for inter-county activity this week sparked a debate around just what the word should mean in a sporting context and who it should apply to.

That the likes of the Irelandfrance Six Nations match will go ahead this weekend while horse and greyhound racing events can also continue hasn’t drawn much fuss.

But the fact that the League of Ireland remains on track to start next month while no competitive Gaelic games action can seemingly take place until May has raised eyebrows.

A number of inter-county managers have questioned it and the issue will likely flare up again when the League of Ireland kicks off on March 19, particularly if hurling and Gaelic football matches are still some six weeks away.

Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers essentially said this week that the League of Ireland retains its Level 5 exemption due to its professional status. Around 400 players earn a living through the League of Ireland, maybe half of them on a full-time basis.

Former Donegal star Brendan Devenney (left) came from a primarily soccer background in Newtowncunningham and played intermittently for Finn Harps while also crossing over into the Irish League with Limavady United and Portadown.

He lined out in the UEFA Cup for Portadown, where a number of his teammates had Premier League experience, like Kevin Pressman, the former Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper, while Scottish striker Allan Smart’s phone screensaver showed a picture of him winning a header over Chelsea’s Marcel Desailly from his Watford days. “I quite often played for Harps on a Saturday night, eight o’clock kick off on a heavy pitch, and played for Donegal on Sunday at two o’clock,” Devenney recalls.

“I even did some mad things like played against Cobh on a Saturday night and went out on the town and jumped on a flight to Dublin and got driven back to Ballyshannon, played against Galway in a National League game.”

Ultimately, he played far longer with Donegal than he did with any of his soccer clubs because, while he didn’t earn a living from representing his county, that’s where