The first world champion boxer from Leeds

They’re making a film about Josh Warrington, the 27-year-old boxer from Leeds, said Ron Lewis in The Times. And at Elland Road last Saturday night, the directors “got their Hollywood ending”. Warrington went into the fight, against IBF featherweight world champion Lee Selby, as a “big outsider”: his opponent was a well-respected boxer who had lost just one previous professional bout, nine years ago. But Warrington fought “the fight of his career” to defeat Selby on points and take the IBF title. He was “tactically perfect, landing with fast combinations when opportunities presented themselves, finding an open target for his left hook and overhand right”; he weathered whatever Selby threw at him. This was the night Warrington went from being “merely a popular fighter to one who proved that he was very good”.

Warrington is “synonymous” with Leeds United, the football team that play at Elland Road, said Michael Pearlman on BBC Sport online. He is the chairman of the team’s supporters’ club; on Saturday, he was led out by Lucas Radebe, one of Leeds’s alltime greatest players. Such was the fervour of the support for the local hero, it felt as if Selby was “taking on the might of an entire football club”. And Warrington lived up to the home fans’ hopes, becoming the first world champion to hail from Leeds. With 27 wins from his 27 bouts, he “more than merits the big fights and paydays ahead”.