EXCLUSIVE: Josh Warrington in no rush for rematch with mandatory challenger Kid Galahad

The Leeds Warrior successfully defended his belt against the Sheffield-based fighter via a split decision last June and Galahad is now Warrington’s next mandatory defence for his IBF belt.

Warrington is set to face Can Xu in a featherweight unification bout at Headingley later this year, providing that social conditions allow with all boxing events currently suspended by the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Galahad returned to number one in the IBF rankings with a dominant victory over Claudio Marrero in February, with the Dominican Republican’s corner calling the fight off after eight rounds.

But Warrington admits he is in no rush to fight Galahad again as he already sees it as a “box ticked”.

“I wouldn’t want to fight him because it is a box ticked and fighting that kind of style is never going to be a fight of the year,” said Warrington.

“It is never going to be that fight where you look back and think that it is one you want to see again.

“Not only that, I don’t like his arrogance and the person he has become and the character he is.

“If that’s all show, whatever. I don’t like it.

“Without me, his career his kind of irrelevant.

“No-one is going to pay to watch him fight anyone else unless it involves myself. That is not blowing smoke up my backside but he fights on everyone else’s undercards when he has got normal fights on.”

Warrington has vowed to knock out Galahad if he is required to participate in a rematch.

The Leeds Warrior beat the former British, Commonwealth and European super-bantamweight champion twice at amateur level and believes a knockout will silence the doubters once and for all.

“If they put it on me, which it is looking like they will do, then I will have to take care of business,” he added.

“I have beat him three times in total, including the amateur days and I would beat him again. It wouldn’t be an entertaining fight but I would be looking to knock him out to silence everybody. But, like I say, he is not top of my list, to be honest.

“If I had it my own way, I would want to go on and fight the other champions.”

Warrington is undefeated in 30 professional bouts and wants the remainder of his fights to be remembered for the right reasons after describing his last meeting with Galahad as a “stinker”.

“This is the sport, it is an entertainment business. People remember the exciting fights,” continued Warrington, who most recently defended his title with a second-round stoppage against Sofiane Takoucht in October.

“There is a part of the build-up to it which can be remembered for right or wrong reasons. The Galahad fight had a lot of build up because there was a lot of animosity, a lot of needle. But the fight turned out to be a stinker.”

Warrington’s successful title defence against Northern Irishman Carl Frampton was named as the British fight of the year after the pair went hell for leather for 12 rounds in Manchester at the end of 2018.

And with pro’ fighters limited to roughly two fights per calendar year, Warrington is eager to not “waste” one of those against a man he has already beaten.

He added: “This window of being a professional isn’t very long; you only fight two times a year at this stage.

“You have got camps to prepare for and injuries start creeping in at the latter stage of your career.

“You have got to sell shows, so these things take time. It results in only fighting a couple of times a year.

“You don’t want to waste one of those fights on a stinker. If all my fights to the end of my career are memorable ones, I will be a happy man.”

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