GEROME WARBURTON goes by the ring monicker of ‘The Bread Maker’, but he might more accurately be called ‘The Fortune Teller’.
However you slice it, you can’t argue when he claims “all the things I spoke about have happened”.
Warburton is harking back to our first meeting, more than five years ago, when he was a novice pro saying all the things you’d expect of a young 5-0 fighter.
He told me he was going to win a Welsh championship, that he would one day fight for a British title, and most of all, that he was bound for the biggest stages.
“Imagine me fighting for Eddie Hearn on DAZN,” he said at the time. “Just watch me go!”
We can do exactly that on Saturday. Warburton has also, as predicted, won a Welsh title and will fulfil the prophecy of fighting for a British championship when he meets Kieron Conway for the vacant middleweight honours (and Conway’s Commonwealth crown) on the Johnny Fisher-Dave Allen II card at London’s Copper Box Arena, live on DAZN.
But should he triumph and take two more belts back to Colwyn Bay on the North Wales coast, it will not be a case of mission complete. Now, the goals are bigger. Never mind Wales – Warburton wants the world.
“Anybody can talk about world titles,” he says, “but I could be two fights away.
“Conway is European mandatory, so if I beat him, I assume that position. [European champion] Denzel Bentley is gonna fight Zhanibek [Alimkhanuly, the IBF and WBO ruler], so I could pick up the vacant European title – and that gives you a world rating.”
Bold talk from a man who, for now at least, is relatively little known on the wider boxing scene, and who comes from an area with a minimal pro boxing presence. Only two fighters from North Wales have contested a British championship, neither of them successfully (Rhyl heavyweight Carl Gizzi in 1969, and Connah’s Quay middleweight Tom Doran in 2016). Warburton has spent his entire career boxing away from home, but believes this leaves him well prepared.
“I’ve always boxed away,” he says. “I’ve always been one who’ll take my chances. I ain’t got nothing to lose.
“Look at Shakiel Thompson – he was offered a title shot [against Alimkhanuly] and 300 grand, and he refused. Why? When opportunities arise, there’s no turning back. You might not get another chance.”
‘The Bread Maker’ turned pro in 2019 to precisely no fanfare.
“It got to the point in the amateurs where I was positive I was gonna win Welsh championships, but I was beating my opponents and not getting the decision,” he says. “[Then-stablemate] Sion [Yaxley] was turning over, so I thought to myself, ‘just go and do it; I may as well give it a try’.”
Warburton’s willingness to accept a challenge was immediately obvious. His first pro fight was in the away corner, against a ticket-selling local, in the iconic setting of London’s York Hall.
“I was in the gym when I got a message from Chris [Sanigar], ‘do you want this fight?’ I thought it was a joke!” he says. “Going to York Hall for your first fight is something in itself; something to tell everyone. It’s such a historic place.
“He [Celal Ozturk of Hackney] was also 0-0 but he had bear fans, and nobody knew me. But I ended up stopping him in two rounds.”
If Warburton thought spoiling Ozturk’s pro plans at the first hurdle would kickstart his own, he was mistaken. He did occupy the “home” corner for the next couple of years (with the exception of a lockdown-era trip to Spain), albeit in Manchester, where he boxed for Kieran Farrell’s Vicious Promotions, but was far from enthused by the competition.
He had talked with Boxing News in 2022 about his frustrations when facing journeymen, trying to find a finish against men seeking to “survive like wounded animals”, the grind of selling tickets while “telling your fans you’re boxing someone with a hundred losses”, and of the comedown of following a Welsh title win with a four-rounder against a serial loser.
Accordingly, Warburton hasn’t had to be asked twice when offered more meaningful fights – even if he wasn’t supposed to win them.
“The Welsh title at four weeks’ notice [w pts 10 Morgan Jones, May 2022]; British title eliminator at six weeks’ notice [w pts 10 Aaron Sutton, February 2024]; a massive jump up against Ryan Kelly on Channel 5 [d pts 10, June 2024]; Spain on two weeks’ notice against a good, rated kid [l pts 6 Jhon Jader Obregon in Spain in December 2021]; I was thrown into York Hall on my debut against a big ticket seller and won.
“No one ever thought I was meant to win them fights. Taking a fight on a few weeks’ notice, people usually do that for money – I did it ’cos I believe in myself.”
And he believes in himself against Conway.
“I ain’t putting pressure on myself, ’cos I already know I’ll win,” he says. “Am I favourite? No. But I’ve always proved people wrong. Everyone from here [North Wales] who’s tried [to win the British title] has lost – but not me.”
“He’s only fought two southpaws,” adds Warburton, a converted lefty, “and it’s well known he struggles with the weight. What’s he going to do in a hard 12-rounder with someone who makes the weight easily? I’ve never had trouble with weight. I used to eat KFC outside the gym before it opened.”
That was when he was an amateur at Colwyn Bay’s Dyffryn Boxing Club, where he remained for several years into his pro journey, retaining Dyffryn’s founder Wesley Jones as his head coach.
But the 29-year-old eventually conceded he would have to look further afield if he was to push on, settling on former Team GB Olympic coach Paul Walmsley in Liverpool, an hour’s drive away.
Leaving Dyffryn late last year was a tough decision, but it was made with Jones’ blessing.
“Wes agreed I needed to get out of my comfort zone,” Warburton says. “At Dyffryn, it’s all about the fundamentals, and the fitness is probably the best in all of Wales, but the technical side isn’t quite there. And in North Wales, the sparring, the contacts, aren’t very high. You’ve got to move to the city.
“And Paul’s got no other pros, so I’m getting the time I need. I feel like I’ve improved and people I spar with say I’ve improved.
“It will be a shame to not have Wes in my corner for the British, but the belt’s coming back to the [Dyffryn] gym, not to Liverpool. Dyffryn’s always going to be my home, no matter what I go on to.”
He’s already gone on to more than most pro boxers from his region, and if Warburton beats Conway, he’ll do what none before him have.
Winning the British title would be a “fantastic, life-changing event”, he says, “but it’s more about showing people you can do it; showing the kids that if you believe in yourself and do things right, the opportunities are there.
“Just ’cos you’re not from the city doesn’t mean you can’t do something.”
