IBF Featherweight Challenge
Tonight’s Matchroom/DAZN Main Event between IBF Featherweight Champion Kiko Martinez (43-11-2, 30 Kos) and Josh Warrington (31-1-1, 8 Kos) was a rematch that brought the house at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England to its feet.
This bout was one of the most important bouts in Josh’s career to date, considering a lost tonight would have meant retirement. With that in mind and a full house in attendance, Josh wasted no time asserting himself at the first bell of round one throwing leather with vicious combinations strong enough to drop Kiko for a quick 8 count.
Kiko clearly wasn’t expecting Josh to being so aggressive from the jump. Josh’s approach forced Kiko to exchange but wasn’t able to match Josh’s output from the early rounds.
Once the action slowed down as Josh lowered his output, Kiko proceeded to press the action with his own shots attempting to deter Josh who was still able to box with some very good exchanges going back and forth.
With Josh landing the better shots as the rounds progressed it was quite evident that Josh was the combatant outworking his opponent inside that squared circle. Josh looked good and sharp moving and boxing and landing punches at will.
By the seventh round, it was another trashing by Josh who had pinned Kiko to the ropes and unleashed a barrage of unanswered punches like a heavy bag that quickly prompted the referee to stop the bout and kept Kiko from further abuse.
This rematch was way different from their first encounter of five years ago, where Josh won a rough twelve round majority decision over Kiko. This time around Josh shut the show down in a convincing fashion.
With this conclusive win, you have now regained the IBF Featherweight Title and reasserted yourself as a key player in the 126-Pound Division.
Congratulations Josh, can’t wait to see what your next move will be.
Blaze