By Ian S Palmer
Former IBF World Featherweight Champion Josh Warrington will attempt to avenge his defeat to Mauricio Lara of Mexico in his hometown of Leeds, England this Saturday, Sept. 4th. The 12-round rematch will be shown live on DAZN in most nations. Warrington lost to Lara in London, England in February when he was dropped in the fourth and ninth rounds before being stopped in the ninth.
The 30 -year-old Warrington enters the contest with an impressive record of 30-1 with 7 Kos. Yes, that’s just seven stoppages which means he’s not going to be too much of a threat to Lara once again when it comes to power with a current knockout ratio of just 22.6 per cent. However, I thought the same thing in his outing against Sofiane Takoucht in September, 2019 and Warrington disposed of him in under 360 seconds. So, perhaps Lara shouldn’t just wade in while not respecting his power.
Warrington won the IBF title when he beat Lee Selby by split decision in May, 2019 and then defended it against Carl Frampton by unanimous decision in December and Kid Galahad by split decision in June, 2019 before taking out Takoucht. However, he then gave up the belt so once again this is basically a must-win situation if he hopes to get a shot against a titleholder.
Warrington stands 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 67-inch reach. He turned pro in 2009 and has boxed 240 rounds since. He’s also captured several regional and minor titles including the English, British, Commonwealth, European and WBC International Featherweight Titles. Warrington has fought all his bouts in his homeland with his most recognizable foes so far being Galahad, Frampton, Selby, Patrick Hyland, Rendall Munroe, Martin Lindsay, Hisashi Amagasa, Kiko Martinez and Dennis Ceylan.
Warrington’s a fine boxer with a lot of heart but his chin was a problem against Lara earlier this year. He may lack knockout power, but he managed to wobble Frampton a couple of times and took out Takoucht quickly so perhaps he’s been working on his power. He had stopped three of his previous seven opponents before running into Lara and with a bit more power added to the rest of his skills he should remain a formidable opponent for anybody.
Lara is just 23 years old and made his pro debut back in October, 2015 as a teenager and has boxed 110 rounds since. He’s also listed as 5-feet-7-inches tall but unfortunately has an unlisted reach. What we do know though is that he carries around a record of 23-2 with 16 Kos which means he has good power with a current knockout ratio of 64 per cent.
Lara’s defeats came at the hands of Julio Carabino by four-round split decision in his pro debut and he was stopped in 50 seconds by Eliot Chavez in May, 2018. Lara remained active through the Covid-19 pandemic by fighting four times in 2020 and five times in 2019 and his activity certainly helped in the first meeting with Warrington.
Of course, the level of opposition over that span wasn’t the greatest but all opponents entered the ring with winning records. This will be Lara’s third fight outside of Mexico and he did the right thing in February by not leaving things in the hands of the judges in the UK by making sure the fight didn’t go to the scorecards.
Prediction…
Warrington had silenced the naysayers throughout his career with solid wins over Lee Selby, Carl Frampton and Kid Galahad so it was a bit of an upset when Lara stopped him in February. Warrington will be determined to avenge the defeat and has the chance to do so in his hometown in front of thousands of fans. His loss to Lara came in London with no fans in attendance. Lara’s been 10 rounds just once in his career but will be confident it won’t go that far again as his power worked its magic the first time around. Warrington will need to outwork him with volume punching and prove he learned something from the defeat as Lara sometimes throws power shots and not much of anything else. I can see this fight ending the same way the first one did or Warrington outboxing Lara on way to victory as it’s basically a tossup. I’ll go with Warrington though as there’s nothing promoters like more than a trilogy and guaranteed payday.
