NOTTINGHAM, England – Josh Warrington is considering hanging up his gloves permanently following his loss to Leigh Wood on Saturday.
Warrington, of Leeds, England, was facing Wood for the second time after they first squared off in 2023 at the Sheffield Arena for Wood’s WBA featherweight title. Warrington was breezing through their first contest and was a heavy favorite to take home the WBA strap heading into the seventh session. However, Wood flipped the script and stopped Warrington in controversial style. A rematch was called for but didn’t come to fruition, and the pair went separate ways.
Both men would take on junior lightweight Anthony Cacace, both suffering defeats, with Warrington choosing to retire following his in 2024. Warrington’s retirement was short-lived, and he returned in April 2025 to take on Asad Asif Khan in a run-out. Warrington and Wood then agreed to settle the controversial ending to their first encounter on Saturday at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena.
The rematch was a relatively straightforward one to score, with Wood dominating the fight and Warrington seemingly not at the races. It seemed Father Time had caught up with the now 35-year-old former two-time featherweight titleholder.
“Obviously I'm going to sulk a little bit because I'm a winner,” Warrington said of his defeat. “Even though I'm 35 now, 17 years deep into a professional career, I've had many brilliant nights, a lot of work – majority of them were with Matchroom. I'm very much disappointed. I planned to get the win tonight. I trained super-hard for the last 14 weeks to give my life and soul to the gym, as I always do. Rolled back the years, I've looked in amazing shape, had a few sunbeds, got a new hair line, straight teeth and felt really good. I was going to turn around to Eddie [Hearn] and say, ‘Let's go back to Leeds. Go back and have one more crazy night.’ I wanted it – I really wanted it – but the snap, the bit of fire inside me, it's just missing.”
Warrington’s father and trainer Sean O’Hagan believes that now it is time to hang up the gloves permanently. Warrington hoped he still had more to give, but O’Hagan believes his performance against Wood shows he doesn’t have it anymore.
“I think there comes a time where you've got to be realistic,” O’Hagan said. “He's just lacking that 10-15 per cent tonight. Preparation went well, sparring went well, everything went in place, but he just wasn’t getting it tonight. I think there comes a time where, like I say, as a fighter, they know themselves. You can't tell them when they're done. They've got to experience it and they've got to tell you when they're done. I think he's realizing now, but a fantastic career. 17 years as a professional. He's come out of it very, very well. He's had a fantastic career.
“I think what we're going to do now, we're going to do a little bit of fishing in summer, a little bit of golf and see what happens. I think, to be honest, I would like to see him stop now. I think realistically. You've got to be realistic, because it's a dangerous sport. Done very well. Fantastic ambassador. But the sport itself, I think it's time now to wrap it up.”
Whether Warrington will hang up the gloves or not is only for him to decide. The fighter revealed he will sit down for a discussion with his father about his future but admitted he is likely to listen to his old man’s advice.
“Well, again, I need to have another thought,” Warrington said. “I don't think he wanted me to carry on after Cacace, but I managed to convince him. He didn't want me to have the Asif Khan one, which came on short notice. But again, I managed to convince him of that one. We got through that and then got back into the gym, and I'm rolling back the years with some of my sparring partners, and basically that's training. But, yeah, obviously we need to … he's making a lot of his feelings known right now for you guys, but we need to have a real chat. But probably I will listen to him this time ‘round. But, yeah, let's not make any big decisions just yet.”
Tom Ivers is a lifelong fight fan and former amateur boxer who has a master’s degree in sports journalism. Tom joined BoxingScene in 2024 and is now a key part of the UK and social media teams.
