No Warr veteran JOSH: I WON’T SOLDIER ON LIKE BENN
DAVID PRICE has stepped in to face Dereck Chisora at London’s O2 Arena on October 26 following the withdrawal of Chisora’s original opponent Joseph Parker after he was bitten by a spider.
The Liverpudlian said: “Dereck is a great competitor and I’m sure he’ll bring the best out of me.”
JOSH Warrington is determined to retire with no regrets and says he would never want to come back like Nigel Benn.
The 55-year-old Dark Destroyer is return
ing to fight next month after 23 years out of the ring with the former two-weight world champion saying he needs closure.
But Warrington intends to achieve all he can at his peak. The unbeaten IBF featherweight king, who faces Frenchman Sofiane Takoucht on Saturday, said: “It’s about doing stuff so you can rest easy when you’re done.
“I don’t want to be doing a Nigel Benn at 55 to get closure. When I retire, I want to know I did everything I could in my prime. “I want to go to my grave knowing that I boxed the best and took the biggest fights. I don’t want to get to the end of my career and think, what if?”
Warrington, 28, had hoped his next fight would be a unification clash in the US and facing the unheralded Takoucht at Leeds’ First Direct Arena feels like an anti-climax.
But the Leeds fighter says promoter Frank Warren is working on delivering him WBC champion Gary Russell Jnr at his beloved Elland Road in the spring.
“I boxed Lee Selby at Elland Road, which was a massive night, and a unification fight with him would be even bigger,” said Warrington.
“A lot of people have said to me, ‘who’s this guy you’re fighting? He’s a nobody’. He’s not a nobody. He was a European champion and he’s ranked four by the IBF.
“I’ve been in the game long enough to know you can’t take anyone lightly. If I want to keep on progressing and fight the likes of Gary Russell Jnr, I’ve got to win these fights.”
Warrington gave 50 tickets for Saturday’s fight to 6 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps on a visit to their Dishforth barracks last week.
“I did think about signing up to the Royal Marines,” he said. “But my old man said ‘give this boxing a go’... and the rest is history.”