OVER the past week, Josh Padley’s career and profile have taken off significantly after stepping in on four days’ notice to take on three-weight world champion Shakur Stevenson for his WBC lightweight strap in Riyadh.
Fighting at the pinnacle of the sport is something Padley will have struggled to envision just 11 months ago, as he fought on a small hall show at Elland Road’s Banqueting Suite.
Padley now looks ahead to making the transition into a full-time athlete and to hopefully sign the promotional deal he has been looking for, which will bring more big nights.
“It felt almost like a dream all week,” Padley told Boxing News.
“There were a few times that I hopped into the group chat with my friends saying boys is this actually real life or am I dreaming here?
“I’ve gone from Elland Road to then the biggest UK boxing event, fast-forward to now being involved in the best card in Riyadh, which has been dubbed the best card ever.
“Other than wishing the second performance would have gone a little better, I feel blessed to be called up by Turki Alalshikh to get these opportunities.”
Often when a late replacement steps in, people are quick to label it nothing more than a pay day for the fighter. However, for Padley this was very visibly not the case, and it was reflected through his performance on the night.
“On four days’ notice, I went to win and that was the key thing there,” explained the Doncaster lightweight. “My mindset was to win, and it weren’t to go and just take part. People say you have just gone to get the payday and all this, but that wasn’t my thought process in this.
“My thought process when the call first come in was if I can go and pull this off I am gonna change everything that people think about me as far as from a boxing point of view, so that was the mindset going into it and all the way throughout the fight.
“We didn’t pull it off but like you say it was a tall order and a tall task to get through a three-weight world champion on four days’ notice with about an hour’s worth of a training camp for him.”
Although he took the fight on just four days’ notice, Padley looked in good shape on the scales and him keeping in shape since his previous fight in September ultimately helped him to make the weight safely in such a short period of time. However, his lack of conditioning and camp preparation took its toll later in the fight.
“Being in shape and being conditioned to fight is two different things,” Padley added. “I stay in shape so I can step it up on short notice, so if you get a four-week camp or something like that, it would be easy to step it up but being conditioned to do 12 rounds with an elite level fighter you’d be wanting a 10-week camp to do something like that. That’s where the body shots took the toll as the conditioning weren’t there.”
If accepting a fight on four days’ notice against a pound-for-pound star in Shakur Stevenson was not enough, Padley and his team had to rapidly work out whether it was logistically possible, weight and health wise, to fly to Riyadh within a day.
Once he arrived in Riyadh, Padley had to carry out his media duties, make championship weight and psychologically prepare for the fight. The situation could not have got much more intense and fast paced, and this will likely put him in good stead going forward as he looks ahead to more big nights.
Off the back of his roll of the dice decision and performance, Padley has had a lot of positive attention online, and his story has been featured on many different news platforms.
Boxing News asked Padley about the positive exposure and the headlines surrounding his full-time job as an electrician, which was a surprise to a large portion of the general public who may not have necessarily been aware that many professional boxers still have to work.
“I didn’t think it would do [the performance receiving a positive reaction online] as in my head from a fighters point of view I’ve lost so I was devastated about that and thought I’m going to have to rebuild and that’s it now, but it’s had quite the opposite effect,” answered Padley.
“People probably didn’t realise but I bet a good 75 per cent of fighters that are professional all have day jobs. I bet a lot of the general public didn’t quite realise it to the extent that it is.
“I work on building sites and I’m a normal lad trying to pursue his dream but also have got to put food on the table at the same time. I think people have obviously bought into the back story and got behind me and I’m very appreciative of that.
“I’m now in a position that I have rang my boss and told him that I won’t be coming back to work and that I will be fully pursuing boxing for the foreseeable future and giving it a proper go and seeing where I can get to in the sport being a full-time athlete.”
What had not been touched on a great deal throughout the week was that his previous opponent, to which he had the time to prepare for and benefitted from a full training camp, had been an undefeated southpaw.
Boxing News mentioned the upset win over Mark Chamberlain and asked if this swayed the decision to take the fight against one of the greatest active southpaws in the sport.
“When the call comes and it’s the world title shot on the other line you’d be stupid not to take it regardless because it’s the top of the sport and this is what you’re in boxing for,” explained Padley.
“You’ve got to think this is my chance and I can just roll the dice on this. When we sat back and started analysing with what time we had for Shakur, it did play into my hands that we’ve just come out of a camp for a southpaw, but we only had about an hour’s worth of preparation for him in the actual gym.
“As you can imagine with the time scale that we had it was a case of get over there and rest so we’re not tired and then the weight cut process obviously started again to make championship weight.”
After facing him last Saturday, Padley gave his thoughts on Shakur Stevenson as a fighter and whether he feels he is the best active fighter in the lightweight division.
“It’s always gonna be an interesting fight when you put the likes of Gervonta Davis in the mix just because of the sheer power that he carries,” explained Padley.
“Shakur’s an excellent boxer and his timing and punch selection is second to none. It’s just the power aspect that maybe he lacks, maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he can just do what he does for 12 rounds and not get tagged. It’s always hard to say but he’s obviously come up the weights and he is an excellent boxer, and it proves.”
What’s next for Padley? This week, rumours have surfaced about a potential matchup between Padley and fellow Doncaster lightweight Maxi Hughes which would make something of a local derby.
Padley confirmed to Boxing News that the Hughes fight is not something he would shy away from following his Instagram callout as he has now proved he is a fighter willing to take on the biggest challenges in back-to-back fights.
However, he also confirmed that the Hughes fight may not make immediate sense for his best interest and that his options are open.
“There are some talks going on behind the scenes right now, not regarding Maxi but bigger opportunities,” hinted Padley. “Talks are happening that look like they are gonna be good. The best is yet to come been a full-time athlete.”
Could this be the promotional deal he has long awaited or a major fight announcement? Time will tell.
