Josh Warrington has vowed to become a two-time world champion as he looks ahead to his March 26th clash against Kiko Martinez.
The prospect of a clash with Martinez was a surprise outcome, with the pair facing off five years after they had previously clashed and not fitting into Warrington's own plans for the year.
By his own admission, Warrington was surprised by the emergence of a second fight against Martinez and has detailed how the bout developed.
"He knocks out Kid Galahad and I hear that he's gone back to the changing room and said 'I want Josh Warrington'," he told LeedsLive.
"He wasn't lying because a few days later I got a call saying that Kiko wants to fight, it's funny because I beat him five years ago. It was a tough fit and we go again, where he walks into it as champion."
On that date five years ago, the two fighters went the distance before Warrington was crowned victorious on a unanimous points decision - a result that Martinez believes was incorrect, though Warrington believes differently.
"Everyone is going to have a little grumble aren't they. The fight was pretty close in stages, he threw a lot of punches but he didn't score more than me. He never ran away with it, it was a close fight, I'm not going to deny that.
"But I knew that I'd done the business to win the fight by the final bell. He's got an opportunity now, he can stop f****** moaning about it and he can come and knock me out."
The pair's second bout has more significance due to where they are in the latter stages of their careers, with promoter Eddie Hearn stating that he feels it could be the end of the road for the loser but Warrington has plenty more within his sights.
"You don't want to think about it too much, I've always thought that I'd dictate when I finish, I'll finish on my own terms and I still think that now.
"It's a case of me winning that world title, going into another fight in the division and then seeing what we do at the end of the day. I want to have a few more fights, I still want to fight in the states but all that goes out the window if I get chinned.
"I've lost a few years to the pandemic, it's a case of just winning and that's it."
For Warrington, the pandemic was followed by the shock defeat to Mauricio Lara and then frustrations in the rematch, which ended in a technical draw after his opponent sustained a cut to his eye in the second round.
Those two years have now resulted in things coming full circle for his fight with Martinez, as he admits he previously fought his days of fighting at the Leeds Arena were behind him.
"Back in 2019 I was saying to people 'this is it, get yourself here and watch us because this is the last time I'm going to fight at the Leeds Arena'. I thought I'd be going to the states, a unification fight and then going to the states, but the Lara fight threw a spanner in the works.
"It's just restarting that, it's funny because all those years ago we had those Wednesday nights under Eddie and Matchroom, now we're back again. Eddie was saying before that he was jealous when he watched me win a world title because he wanted to be part of that, he'd been a part of it this the early stages, now he's got the chance to be there when I get crowned two-time world champion on March 26th."
