He had to overcome some questionable judging to do it, but Josh Warrington rose to the occasion to upset and lift the IBF title from its longtime holder in Lee Selby. It was an impressive and entertaining performance from the new titleholder in front of his hometown fans.
Josh Warrington’s (27-0, 6 KOs) powerless, pressuring style was enough to take the first round of the world title fight. Defending titleholder Lee Selby (26-2, 9 KOs) did better to establish his jab in the last minute, but Warrington’s volume definitely delivered the better work. By halfway through the second round Selby was bleeding and it had become alarmingly clear that the Welshman was going to have a lot of trouble commanding the distance he needs the fight to be at. The local hero was borderline already beating Lee Selby up after two. Lee Selby to his credit did have a much better third round though. He kept his distance a little better and worked some nice shots from it.
The defending titleholder started the fourth round just as well and clearly controlled the first two minutes of the round. It was enough to take it, but Warrington did come on a bit in the last minute. It was repeatedly surprising to me how the Leeds man could reach Selby despite the fight looking like it was out at Selby’s range. The fifth round was a difficult to score. Josh Warrington did the bigger work, but Lee Selby did more work over the three minutes. I shaded it to the challenger for the bigger shots. The sixth wasn’t close. Josh Warrington dominated the last round in the first half of the fight with three minutes of big hooks and straight rights. He also opened more blood over Selby’s opposite eye, albeit with an accidental headbutt.
I had local challenger Josh Warrington up four rounds to two at the halfway point thanks to his absolutely tremendous effort.
The seventh round was a microcosm for the struggles of Lee Selby in this fight. Lee could box well for most the round and win it from that perspective. Unfortunately for him, Warrington’s fifteen second bursts were huge and battering. They gave the impression that the Leeds man would already of won by stoppage had he any power and most specifically gave him the seventh. I did finally give Lee another round in the eighth though. The fight slowed and he landed a pair of nice left hooks in the last minute of the round. The fight stayed that way through the first half of the ninth too. Warrington came on to take it pretty big with his combination punching in its second half though.
I had Warrington up six rounds to three going into the final three rounds. Things only got worse on the cards for Lee Selby in the tenth as well. Josh Warrington dominated the frame inside and out. This was really inspired stuff given that the Leeds man isn’t exactly the most physically talented man. Consensus going into the championship rounds was that Lee Selby now needed a knockout to win and my card agreed. He didn’t end up getting it. Selby came out appropriately gunning the eleventh and did good work to open the frame, but he couldn’t sustain it to the level needed. It wasn’t even enough to win the card on my card as Warrington had his hooks going well in the last ninety seconds of the second to last round. The twelfth did nothing to change the outcome of the contest. Warrington won it comfortably too.
I scored this fight 117-110 to Josh Warrington. Shockingly given that we were in his hometown, the cards came back pretty terrible. One came in 115-113 for Lee Selby somehow while the other two came back 115-113 and 116-112 for Warrington. I have no idea how you even find five rounds to give to Lee Selby, let alone seven, but at least the right man walked out with the title.
A couple quick points: For one, there might be a lot of talk about the shots Josh Warrington definitely did land to the back of Selby’s head in this fight. My view on this is that Selby kept presenting it and causing the infraction himself, not that Warrington did anything dirty. I do believe ignoring it was the right call by the referee, though perhaps he could have explained why to Selby and his corner.
Second, the commentary team praised Warrington has clearly being above domestic level with this performance, but the truth is I don’t think either man really is. They are high domestic level (or Euro-level if you prefer) for sure, but neither of these men are going to be competitive with the other titleholders at the weight. I don’t think they even fare all that well with top contenders like Abner Mares, Scott Quigg, or JoJo Diaz.
Still, it was a good performance and a nice moment for the now first world titleholder from Leeds in Josh Warrington.
