By Charles Brun: Promoter Frank Warren isn’t keen on the idea of Josh Warrington taking on the Mexican knockout artist Mauricio Lara in an immediate rematch after being knocked out in the 9th round by him earlier this month on February 13th at the SSE Arena in Wembley.
Warren says former IBF featherweight champion Warrington (30-1, 7 KOs) should wait at least two years before mixing it up with the 22-year-old Lara (22-2, 15 KOs) in a rematch.
Warrington’s style of fighting was ideal for the powerful Lara, who has limited boxing skills, and he wouldn’t have likely have beaten him if he’d chosen to box.
Depending on how soon Warrington takes the rematch, his ability to take a shot might not be there. If Warrington has any lingering issues from the bad knockout loss he suffered, Lara has the punching power to expose that right away.
From a logical standpoint, Warrington would be smart to listen to Warren and stay away from Lara for a couple of years before facing him again. If Warrington is knocked out again, his career will in bad shape.
Coming back from consecutive knockouts at the hands of Lara may prove to be an insurmountable task for Warrington. But on the flip side, if Warrington beats Lara, he’ll be right back to where he was before the loss.
There aren’t too many fighters in the 126-lb division that can punch the way Lara can, so Warrington wouldn’t have many worries about getting smashed in the same way.
Warren spotted trouble early for Warrington
“When he came with us, he went from Brooklyn to Parkway, and we done everything for him,” said Frank Warren to Queensbury Promotions about Josh Warrington.
“We delivered his dreams and fighting in Leeds football grounds. And we got him a world title and got him in a position to do it.
“We worked really hard to get that done, and we’ve done what we had to do. Watching his fight last week, in the first round, he got clipped with a left hook, and he was getting caught with a left hook and uppercut,” said Frank about Warrington quickly falling apart against Mauricio Lara.
“I thought this fella is going to give him some problems, and it sort of all fell apart in the fourth round. It was a shame,” said Warren.
Warrington looked like he was hurt by a left hook from Lara in the first round, and it’s a wonder how he was able to make it out of that round without getting dropped.
From the first round on, Warrington was taking big hits from Lara, and not looking like he was firing on all eight cylinders. That shot from Lara in the opening round took something from Warrington.
Warrington doesn’t need a rematch
“I thought up until then that he was the #1 in the world,” said Warren about Josh Warrington. “I don’t know why he vacated his [IBF 126-lb] title, so I don’t know if he got paid for the fight or anything.
“But everything went wrong, everything,” Waren said about Warrington’s loss to Lara.
“You couldn’t have had more go wrong that night in how it ended. Again, fights like that are very difficult to come back from.
“When I seen they’re going to have a rematch with that bloke; you don’t need a rematch with him.
“If he does, he wants to do it in two year’s time. You don’t need a rematch.
“Not with that fella, absolutely not,” Warren said about it not being a good idea to let Warrington face Lara immediately in a rematch.
The way that Warrington fights, he’ll have problems with Lara even if he does fight him two years from now. Unless Warrington changes his style of fighting, he’s going to get knocked out again by Lara.
In two years, Lara will still be young at 24, whereas Warrington will be 32 and likely showing signs of slippage.
Going straight back in there with the hard-hitting Lara is a bad idea, according to Warren. This is a move that Warrington, 30, has decided to take, and his promoter Eddie Hearn isn’t going to stand in his way to try and convince him otherwise.
You can understand why it’s important for Warrington to face Lara right away because his confidence likely won’t be the same if he doesn’t attempt to avenge the loss. Moreover, Warrington won’t have the same cache as he did before the loss.
Warren analyses what went wrong for Josh
“He [Warrington] has a tremendous work rate. He jumps on people, and he doesn’t give them any room,” said Warren when asked what went wrong with Warrington.
“He’s done that with Carl Frampton, he’s done that with quite a few fighters. He’s basically put them on the back foot.
“This fella [Lara] is a tough little fighter. I think he had 10 or 12 knockouts going into that fight; I’m not really sure.
“I know he had a couple of losses early in his career. But he [Warrington] got outgunned, it’s as simple as that.
“No crowd there, we talked about crowds and how people come to fight. He just got beat by the better man on the night, and that’s it, that’s what happened,” said Warren in reflecting on Warrington’s defeat to Lara.
The style that Warrington fights with was never going to be effective against a puncher like Lara or any big slugger in the 126lb division.
All this time, Warrington has gotten away with his reckless manner of fighting because he’s not faced any punchers until he met up with Lara.