By midnight on Saturday in Leeds, Josh Warrington had started a boxing party that cost him a broken jaw, a damaged left hand and set loose close to 12,000 dancing in the streets.
Warrington had also regained his IBF featherweight title and left Spain’s Kiko Martinez smeared in blood from his cuts and in the arms of the referee, Marcus McDonnell, after 2:12 of round seven. It was a flawless display from Warrington in the fight of his life.
The fighting son of Leeds is an old-fashioned boxing hero in a city of old-fashioned sporting icons; Saturday’s fight had enough blood and guts and raw emotion to send everybody home happy. It was the type of fight that leaves every witness drained and those close enough at ringside covered in a light mist of blood. Kiko’s blood ran dark and heavy and freely and he never moaned.
The savage brawl took place against the vast and magnificent slab of steep seats at the First Direct Arena in Warrington’s Leeds; it formed a daunting, constantly moving wall of sound with close to 12,000 adoring fans singing their terrace anthems, even at the fight’s bloody conclusion. Warrington fights for them, they love him; everybody in Leeds has a Josh tale, a moment when their life mixed with his life. He is their idol on demand and that role is all about sacrifice.
“He still wanted to fight,” Warrington told me in the ring at the end. “He is so tough.” Warrington was delivering the few words through gritted teeth, some of his last words before the X-ray confirmed a clean break of the jawbone.
It is a measure of Warrington’s fighting heart and soul that in victory he was praising Martinez for his part in the drama. Martinez had been dropped heavily in the first, cut multiple times – often from some loose work by Warrington’s head – and given a bad beating. It was a dirty fight in parts, with both playing innocent when checked.
“He hurt me right near the end, really hurt me,” Warrington continued. He did, it was clear from ringside.
It was brave Martinez’s final stand, a short, last and desperate right from Kiko in the final seconds of a very public lost cause. Warrington responded with perhaps 30 punches that left the bloodstained referee no option but to jump in and stop it. It was drama until the very bitter end, the latest night in a series of unforgettable boxing nights.
The win ended just over a year of pain and suffering for Warrington; the win was the most important in his career, a crucial part of any glorious future. A defeat was too dark to even consider – Warrington with his fans and his heart was under terrible pressure.
“I have always fancied an American fight and” – with a sweep of his bandaged fist towards the wall of fans – “taking them all on a journey.” It is possible, a fight in Las Vegas, but equally possible is a trip to the City Ground in Nottingham to fight the WBA champion, Leigh Wood. First, his jaw and hand must heal. Warrington has suffered many injuries in his career and there are surely not that many great nights left; his heart will take him to places his body should not travel and the key is to stop him fighting before that journey.
Wood was ringside and as classy as ever. “This night is not about me, it’s about Josh – let’s see what happens; let him celebrate now,” he said. The pair touched hands, somewhere between a shake and a gentle pat of respect. There was to be no circus hysterics on Saturday in Leeds.
Warrington had started with sense against Martinez, careful and smart; the pair met over 12 rounds in 2017 and Warrington won a narrow decision and suffered for weeks.
On Saturday, the opening round soon changed shape, Warrington hurt Martinez, the crowd howled and with 38 seconds left, Martinez was down heavily. He survived and landed two late, late shots on and after the bell. There was bedlam: we had a fight.
Kiko was hurt in the second, cut in just about every round and started each round with large blobs of doctored Vaseline smeared across his eyebrows and forehead. His left ear was red raw from Warrington’s right hand and twice the size of his right ear; Warrington was giving him a beating, but Kiko was still there, still snarling, bleeding and throwing punches.
“I was hitting him, hurting him, but he never stopped coming – he wanted to fight at the end,” added Warrington. All great fights have to finish with the boxers sharing respect.
Kiko Martinez has now fought 56 times, he is arguably Spain’s finest fighter. He deserves a life now away from the ring on his ranch in Alicante with his dancing horses and his family. He did his bit, trust me.
In the seventh it did end. There was relief and joy. And the party started.
