Josh Warrington and Leeds, the glory way around - The Square Ball 28/3/22

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Written by: Rob Conlon

The closest Josh Warrington got to turning the build up to his world title fight with Kiko Martinez into a WWE rally of insults was to arrive at his public workout wearing a bald cap. Martinez had made fun of Warrington’s haircut at an earlier media appearance, but Josh’s response was humour rather than animosity. The two fighters smiled together for a photo next to the ring that had been erected in Leeds market, looking like two lads ready to go on the Otley Run dressed as the Mitchell brothers.

In a sport like boxing, Warrington’s humility can be viewed as a weakness. Maybe he would find it easier to get the mega fight he craves if he went viral for calling out opponents rather than arriving at a press conference wearing a t-shirt bearing a social media post mocking the creases on his forehead. That might win him more fans outside of Leeds, but it’s not the kind of thing that resonates with the people who adore him in his hometown, and they’re the fans that matter most to Josh. “Listen, my dad’s been taking the mick out of me since I could walk,” he said. “So when people like Kiko take the mick out of me, so what? It’s a bit of craic.’”

That humility is something he shares with Martinez. Martinez is admired for his willingness to travel anywhere for a fight, even if he’s the one holding the belt. It’s not because he likes playing the heel — in the words of his former foe Carl Frampton, it’s because he couldn’t care less. He just likes fighting. During the weigh-in at The Queen’s Hotel, a lonely Martinez fan was lifted onto the shoulders of his friend to wave a Spain flag. Surrounded by men in Stone Island jackets with Leeds Service Crew tattoos, it was a brave move, but he was left in peace to support his hero.

Outside of his hometown of Alicante, Martinez is better known in Belfast, where he knocked out Bernard Dunne in his first fight outside Spain and fought twice with Frampton for world titles, than he is in Madrid. In return, now he’s beaten Martinez twice, Warrington might be more likely to be stopped on the streets of Alicante than he is in London. “We are rivals in a tough sport but he’s a good person with two daughters just like me, who wants to take care of his family,” Martinez told The Guardian. “There is nothing more in it than that.”

If there was any notion of even the slightest disrespect between the two men, it was that Martinez personally chose Warrington as his next opponent after his vicious — and unexpected — knockout of Kid Galahad in Sheffield. With that victory, Martinez won the IBF world title Warrington had vacated. He lost a close fight to Warrington five years ago, and was convinced he would end a second fight with the same brutality he used to finish Galahad.

Carl Frampton beat Martinez twice, but was left pissing blood and with a perforated eardrum for his success. His left ear was so badly damaged the injury reoccured in each of Frampton’s training camps thereafter. On BBC’s 5 Live boxing podcast, he described the strength of Martinez, who lives on a ranch in Spain, as “farmer power, agricultural power”. But when asked if that was the hardest he’s ever been hit, Frampton said no. “Josh Warrington hit me harder.” A good friend of Stuart Dallas, Frampton is clearly a wise judge of character.

Warrington bludgeoned Martinez into a seventh-round stoppage at Leeds Arena with the frenzy of a man who knew a third successive fight without a win would likely be his last. It almost ended in the first, when Martinez responded to a clash of heads that opened a cut above his eye by trying to hit Josh with the same right hand that ended Galahad. Warrington beat him to the same punch, and this time it was Martinez on the floor. Josh is often criticised for the use of his head, dismissed by his doubters as a ‘dirty fighter’. The important word there is ‘fighter’, not ‘dirty’. When Anthony Joshua was outclassed by Oleksandr Usyk, he was derided for not bullying his opponent with low blows, headbutts, shoulders, forearms. If Warrington is a dirty fighter from dirty Leeds: good. What more could we possibly want?

Martinez did eventually land that right hand. It was his last successful punch of the night. Josh’s jaw was broken and his legs stiffened. He didn’t want to risk taking any more, so took to pummelling Martinez against the ropes until the referee wisely stopped the fight. At ringside, the notes of commentators Steve Bunce and Mike Costello were splattered with Martinez’s blood.

Luke Ayling had walked Warrington to the ring wrapped in a Leeds Warrior flag and must have given him some tips on celebrating. Josh double checked the fight was over, before launching himself into two forward rolls that would have skittled Robin Koch, all while Bill was shadow boxing with Kalvin Phillips by the front row. Liam Cooper joined in the celebrations back in the dressing room, grabbing Warrington around the neck until Josh had to ask him to be a bit more gentle with his broken jaw.

There is a video of Warrington being interviewed in his changing room that feels sore just to watch. His face is battered and he is slurring the few words he has the energy to speak. To go with the broken jaw, he also injured his left hand in the fourth round, ignoring the advice of his dad and trainer to stop using it so Martinez remained unaware of the pain he was in with each jab.

Throughout the build up to the fight, Warrington rarely spoke in the first person. When he talked about fighting and winning back his world title, he preferred to say “we” were going to do it. He is always eager to stress his success belongs to the city of Leeds. In the moment of victory, Mike Costello spoke of the city before he spoke of the fighter in DAZN commentary. “Glory returns to Leeds,” he said, “and Josh Warrington.” But we weren’t the ones waking up in hospital Sunday morning, our jaws swelling to a right angle, only able to eat watered down porridge out of an Elland Road mug. We were the ones supporting and celebrating another night of Leeds sporting history. But Josh Warrington brought that glory back to Leeds all by himself.