WAR PINT POT PLOT
Josh’s gone from the pub to Jackal clash
JOSH WARRINGTON first started plotting how to beat Carl Frampton over a pint of Guinness two and a half years ago.
The Leeds man defends his IBF featherweight title against Frampton at Manchester Arena tonight.
But it was a post-fight pint with Patrick Hyland, a few hours after he had beaten the Dubliner, when Warrington first started keeping an eye on another boxer from the Emerald Isle.
Belfast-born Frampton, known as ‘The Jackal’, had just moved up to featherweight and was taking on Leo Santa Cruz for the WBA crown in New York.
“I remember being in the bar after I’d just boxed Patrick Hyland,” said unbeaten Warrington ahead of his first defence tonight.
Cheering
“We were having a Guinness together and it were about half three in the morning.
“We watched Frampton. I was cheering him on, but you start thinking you’re getting to the world stage now, you start looking at him as an opponent.
“You watch the fights and you start thinking and analysing him from looking as a spectator or a fan to potential opponent.
“You start analysing and go a bit deeper, looking at what he’s doing wrong as opposed to doing right.
“You start building it all up there, and you see habits, everyone can make a mistake but when it’s a habit, it’s hard to break, especially when you’ve been boxing so long.”
Frampton upset Santa Cruz that night but Warrington was much closer to the action for the rematch in Las Vegas in January 2017.
The Yorkshire fighter jetted to Sin City to sit ringside as Frampton narrowly lost the belt.
He said: “I was over there when Carl boxed Santa Cruz with my manager, Steve Wood.
“We were on the bridge which goes over the
Strip and I stopped to have a look down the Strip and I could see Carl’s fans, billboards for Frampton v Santa Cruz.
“I thought,
‘This is where
I want to be’.
“That planted the seed.
My career went on and now that is the next step, go over there with the Leeds fans and add more memories to my scrapbook.”
If Warrington gets his 28th win tonight, then that dream will be closer to reality, with the winner set for a unification fight with WBO champion Oscar Valdez. He once looked around in awe at Manchester Arena when Carl Froch beat George Groves in their first fight there in 2013.
Now he is the headline act. “The last 21 days, the kids have been opening the doors on their advent calendars and I’ve been counting the days down to this fight,” he added. “I’ve just been thinking about it all the time, how the fight is going to play out. I want to be part of these big nights.” ROPEY: Frampton’s loss to Santa Cruz