By Barry Holbrook: Josh Warrington will get the hometown advantage in his rematch with his Mexican conqueror Mauricio Lara with the second fight at Headingley in Leeds.
Michael Benson is reporting that’s where Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn plans on taking the Lara vs. Warrington rematch.
Last month, the unheralded Lara pulled off a massive upset in stopping the previously unbeaten Warrington by a stunning 9th round knockout on February 13th in a fight behind closed doors at the Wembley Arena in London.
Lara had Warrington hurt from the first round and went on to drop him in rounds 4 and 9.
Warrington was so badly hurt after his knockdown in round four; you can make a strong argument that his trainer should have pulled him out. Josh, 30, was totally ineffective after getting hurt in the fourth, and all he was doing from that point was soaking up punishment from the younger, stronger, and larger Lara.
Fighting in Leeds gives former IBF featherweight champion Warrington (30-1, 7 KOs) his best chance of beating the 23-year-old Lara (22-2, 15 KOs.
It’s unclear what Hearn feels about Warrington going straight into the rematch with Lara, but it sounds like an insane move to move. Given much of a massacre, the fight was last February; Warrington should be staying well clear of Lara instead of heading back into what likely will be a disaster.
Lara is gym mates with WBO featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete, and he’s obviously learned how to mow down weaker fighters like Warrington. If Warrington had the punching power to keep Lara off him, it would make sense for him to take an immediate rematch, but he doesn’t.
Warrington is a volume puncher with average punching power and ineffective style when facing guys with superman strength like Lara.
Warrington will certainly attempt to box Lara next time around and steer clear of exchanges, but that’s not likely to work. What we saw from Lara last time was a fighter that was excellent at closing the distance quickly and throwing long power punches with power on them.
What was really odd-looking about Lara’s fighting style was his ability to throw uppercuts from long range. You don’t see that from fighters too often because it leaves them open to being countered, but Lara got away with it.
Also, Lara still had a lot of steam on his long-range uppercuts, which you would think would weaker due to the lack of leverage.
Somehow, Lara still has a lot of zip on his uppercuts that he threw from a distance. Warrington probably had never seen a fighter throw such odd-looking shots before and didn’t look ready for that kind of approach.
If Warrington loses this fight to Lara by another knockout, it could be a good idea to consider retirement. It’s doubtful that Warrington would be able to come back from a second devastating knockout loss to Lara.
That’s why it’s questionable for Warrington to be taking this fight immediately, as it has disaster written all over it.