Leeds United captain Liam Cooper has sent a message of support to former IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington after the boxer lost his first title defence of the belt to Luis Alberto Lopez last night.
The bout was Warrington's first since he bounced back from the first defeat of his professional career against Mauricio Lara back in February last year with a win against Spaniard Kiko Martinez in March earlier this year.
Warrington was put through the paces in the early rounds as Lopez used his speed and length to gain an early advantage before the Leeds Warrior looked dangerous, throwing some big hooks which did some damage.
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However, despite clearly winning the last three rounds of the fight, one judge scored the bout as a draw while the two other judges gave the fight to the Mexican by two rounds.
Speaking to DAZN after his loss, Warrington admitted he was devastated but still managed to send a message to his fans for making their incredible support at First Direct Arena.
"I'm absolutely devastated losing my title like that but I want to say a big thank you to all these for making noise, so thank you. I did have aspirations of doing other things.
"Obviously I wanted to go to the (United) States and I still want to do that. Maybe unifying is a step too far but I think I can still fight one of the other champions."
The Leeds-born star then took to Instagram as he posted a photo of him saddened after the fight with the caption: "Gutted is an understatement...".
Cooper, who accompanied Warrington to the ring during his ring-walk before the fight, commented: "You’ll be back mate! Never change pal" along with a fist bump emoji and a heart emoji.
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