IBF featherweight titleholder Lee Selby travels to enemy territory to defend against popular local attraction and unbeaten contender Josh Warrington. Is it a good matchup? Either way, Showtime will be streaming it online stateside.
I’ve been writing these for over a year now and I don’t think I’ve had less to say about a world title fight than this one. I don’t mean that negatively. It is just that this is a pretty simple matchup between two guys without really compelling career arcs. It should be a good fight though.
Lee Selby (26-1, 9 KOs) come up the ranks in the ideal British historical pathway of first winning and reigning as the British titleholder before moving onto world level. His one loss came early in his career and isn’t relevant to his story. He picked up the British title in 2011 and defended it five times, recording wins over strong regional opposition like Stephen Smith and Ryan Walsh along the way. He also grabbed the European title for one fight in 2014.
He won his title in 2015 against a relatively weak titleholder in Evgeny Gradovich by technical decision. He beat former three division titleholder Fernando Montiel in his next fight, but a few things should be noted about that fight. For one, Montiel was considered pretty well past it and definitely well above his best weights. Two, Fernando also did pretty well at times. Selby won a clear decision, but the former elite Mexican made it a much more competitive night for the Welshman than expected.
Selby followed the Montiel fight with two not terrible or really inspiring fights. Eric Hunter was at least a real fringe contender and a somewhat defensible defense while Andoni Gago was a late replacement. That was a terrible matchup, but not one anyone intended to put on when the card was announced. Lee did look good last July in dominating Argentinian contender Jonathan Victor Barros on route to a wide decision win. I thought that was going to be a competitive fight, but it was anything but. I again thought Selby was in for a competitive fight in December against solid Mexican prospect Eduardo Ramirez. Again, I was wrong. This time Ramirez was all sorts of weird in the build up to the fight, missed weight, and clearly not entirely there mentally come fight night, ruining what could have been a compelling showdown.
That is basically it. Lee Selby is a good boxer at range, but he’s far from a great one. When he is on he can probably compete with the top of the division, but when he is off he is capable of losing to lesser men. Selby also doesn’t have any pop in his shots and he hasn’t been fighting top fighters.
Is Josh Warrington (26-0, 5 KOs) a top fighter? No, I don’t think so. The Leeds fighter does some things well in the ring, but he isn’t a top athlete and that KO percentage says a lot. Warrington is a pressure fighter through and through and came be surprisingly fun to watch. That grit displayed in the ring plus the entertaining performances have definitely made him popular locally if nothing else. The problem is that low KO percentage pressure fighters basically never succeed at world level.
The thing is though that I don’t actually think Lee Selby is a true world level fighter, belt be damned. To me this is a well matched fight. They are on relatively the same level and also bring the classic boxer versus brawler dynamic that we’ve been enjoying for over a century at this point. The two men are also competing in Leeds, the heart of Josh Warrington territory. This is going to be a very live, very loud crowd in favor of the challenger. I full expect to be entertained by this one. As a world title fight, it isn’t particularly compelling as I don’t think either of these men are true world title level fighters. Yet, as a fight in a vacuum without worrying about that stuff, it is a good one without question. That is more important and I will be tuning in for it.
BT Sport will have the call in the UK while Showtime streams the main event in the US on their Facebook and Youtube pages at about 5 PM Eastern. There isn’t a super compelling undercard that American fans will be missing, but decent fighters like Jack Catterall, Ohara Davies, and top prospect Willy Hutchinson will be competing for those watching.
