TWO-TIME featherweight world champion Josh Warrington looked set to retire after defeat to Anthony Cacace last year, but ‘The Leeds Warrior’ remains determined to re-emerge as a threat and compete at the elite level once again.
Under the Wembley arch last September, Warrington, 32-4-1 (8 KOs), was handed a third consecutive defeat when he was outpointed by Cacace, before leaving his gloves in the ring and seemingly signalling the end of his career.
Yet, the West-Yorkshireman returned to action seven months later and secured a first win in over three years, scoring a unanimous-decision victory against Asad Asif Khan in Sheffield.
Since then, Warrington has been linked to a long-awaited rematch with Leigh Wood, 28-4 (17 KOs), who has been desperate for the opportunity to headline at the City Ground, home of his beloved Nottingham Forest Football Club.
However, with neither man possessing a belt nor showing the form that suggests that they could soon recapture one, it seems as though the monumental clash that they had been planning is one that may never come to fruition.
Instead, recent whispers suggested that the pair could collide in Monaco in December but, without being able to maximise the ticket sales generated by the respective cult followings of Warrington and Wood, it was always going to be a tough negotiation.
Speaking with Boxing News, Matchroom Boxing CEO Frank Smith, revealed that the fight has collapsed but maintained that Warrington will still appear before the end of 2025, and could still compete on the Monaco bill.
“In all honesty, I don’t think that’s the fight that we will see next. I caught up with Leigh as well and I don’t think it’s going to work that fight, in terms of expectations, and there is nothing wrong with that.
“Both guys will have expectations, and I don’t see that being the fight that is next. We are working on Warrington’s next move now, he will be out before the end of the year, possibly on our Monaco show, which we will announce very soon.”
As for Wood, who remains a promotional free agent, Smith continued to add that Wood’s next outing is unlikely to be on a Matchroom show.
“He [Leigh] obviously had his last fight with Frank Warren, against Cacace, he did very well, and he is a big seller in Nottingham, so he will be having discussions there.
“I’m not saying that we wouldn’t work with Leigh, but I don’t think right now, when you look at the schedule up until the end of the year and our obligations and the fighters that we have got signed up and looking to get out this side of the year, I think it would be difficult.”
Joe Cordina is expected to headline Matchroom’s Monte Carlo card, as he did in 2023, for what will be his second outing since moving up to the lightweight division.
