Maxi Hughes has been friends with stablemate Josh Warrington for as long as he can remember, but now Warrington is on the verge of having to make one of his toughest decisions.
“The Leeds Warrior” Warrington lost to Leigh Wood last month in Nottingham, England, well outpointed over 12 rounds, and is said to be considering his future.
“It is hard because Josh has given his life to [boxing],” said Hughes.
“His whole life is boxing. But at the same time, look at everything that he’s achieved. He’s just achieved everything in sport. He’ll definitely go down as a British great.
“It is hard. I do get the difficult decision of not wanting to stop, but I feel like if I were in Josh’s shoes, I would probably … the chatter we had in the changing room after the fight, I know how much it meant to him to want to get that win. But it were almost like, ‘We felt good in training, but it just wasn’t quite there on the night.’ And it’s hard to accept that. Your head can see [the openings in a fight], but your body can’t react and your body can’t do what your head wants it to. So it’s hard to accept, but I think he’s there or thereabouts with that decision.”
Warrington’s father and trainer, Sean O’Hagan, had said that the loser of Wood-Warrington would likely be targeted by up-and-comers hoping to land the scalp of a former titleholder.
Hughes will find himself in a similar position when the 36-year-old veteran fights Pierce O’Leary, who is 18-0 (10 KOs), in Dublin on March 14.
O’Leary, a weight up from Hughes, will be hoping to cash in on Hughes’ reputation.
But if Warrington were to hand one of those potential stars a loss, he would be right back in the picture.
“That is the thing with boxing,” Hughes said. “As we’ve seen with myself, you’re only one phone call away from being straight back in a big fight. Someone else – obviously it was a former rival of ours with Josh, Kiko Martinez – he went out, traveled away, took the fights. … If Josh did want to continue, he’s got a massive fan base in Leeds. And I’m sure if he said, ‘Right, I’m coming back,’ they could get an opponent in and it could sell Leeds Arena out again. And get a win there, you’re back in the mix. But how many times do you keep doing that?”
Warrington, 32-5-1 (8 KOs) and now 35, has always spoken of wanting to take his fans on the rampage in Las Vegas for a major fight. On several occasions, it seemed close. Hughes would feel for Warrington if he never got that Sin City showdown.
“I reckon wherever he fought in America for that fight week, it would have been like walking around Leeds and being in the UK, similar to Ricky [Hatton]. And the Leeds fans were desperate for that away day, as well. A lot of them were always asking Josh, ‘When are we going away? We’re ready. I’ve put some money to the side. I’ve got my wife happy.’ I suppose, in a way, I had the two fights in America [George Kambosos Jnr and William Zepeda], and he was there for both of them, so he got to see it and be a part of it in the corner. So, you know, I’ve given him a little bit of it.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
