MIXING WITH THE BEST
Warrington on his need for high-profile dance partners
WARRINGTON sat down to watch the recent carnage at Madison Square Garden as a fan, but Andy Ruiz Jnr and Anthony Joshua ended up providing him with a graphic and timely example of exactly what can happen when that crucial next step is taken for granted.
Unification fights would be the type of events that secure Warrington’s legacy in the sport and also ensure that his twin daughters will be able to live their own lives without financial worries. That he needs the other notable champions in his division to carry on winning in order to maximise the interest and revenue in any future fights allowed him a better insight than most into exactly how Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury must have felt as they sat on their sofas helplessly watching Ruiz carry out the heist of the century.
“I remember watching Lee Selby fight at the Copper Box Arena before our fight. I know it’s on a smaller scale but while I was watching him, every single time he looked like he was under a bit of pressure I was starting to sweat,” Warrington recalled. “I was thinking that if he got chinned it was all over. The fight at Elland Road was done with. It’s an uncomfortable position to be in.”
If the big fights and big pay days do fall by the wayside, Warrington’s father and trainer, Sean O’hagan, has another plan in mind. O’hagan joked in a recent interview that unless his son’s future purses secure him the camper van of his dreams he might just “throw him in a Prizefighter” for a few extra quid as his career draws to an end.
“F**k’s sake, that’s him all over,” Warrington laughed. “I did used to say that because I never got the chance to win the British title outright I’d do it on my way back down when I’m 33 or 34. I’ll challenge for the British again against a young whippersnapper and create a bit of history. That idea has bitten the dust to be honest.”