Josh Warrington says he wasn’t wary enough of Mauricio Lara last time he fought him earlier this year in February. The result saw the former IBF featherweight champion Warrington (30-1, 7 KOs) knocked down twice en route to getting stopped in the ninth round by the 23-year-old Lara (23-2, 16 KOs).
This Saturday, September 4th, Warrington will be back home in Leeds to face Lara at the Headingley Rugby League Stadium. Losing at home would be a terrible experience for Warrington, and he’s counting on avoiding that from happening.
Warrington’s fighting style, leading with his head, is perfect for Lara to detonate big left hooks and right hands on him. Warrington is like a Joe Frazier type of fighter, who has met a fighter all wrong for him in Lara. For Warrington to try and change his fighting style now, it’s not likely to work well enough for him to beat Lara in their rematch on Saturday.
Warrington believes his loss as a fluke thing
Josh still hasn’t come to terms with what happened to him last time he fought Lara, believing that the defeat was simply a case of him overlooking the threat the Mexican puncher posed.
Some would say that it’s foolhardy for Warrington to be taking the rematch because Lara showed that he has insane power in both hands, and he was able to nail Josh even when he was on the outside.
Lara knocked Warrington down in the fourth and ninth rounds and had him hurt in the first round.
Warrington, 30, believes he’s going to defeat the Mexican slugger this time so that he can head towards a bigger match against the likes of Leigh Wood or Leo Santa Cruz.
Although Warrington hasn’t revealed what his game plan is for the rematch, it’s obvious that he’s going to try and box Lara.
Warrington had periods of success when he was boxing Lara in rounds five through eight last time they fought. However, even when Warrington was playing it safe, Lara caught him with massive shots to the head.
Lara plans on repeating what he did last time by destroying Warrington and using the victory to head towards a world title shot.
Warrington says it’ll be different
“This whole camp, the concentration has been on Mauricio Lara, and that’ll be the difference,” said Josh Warrington to Boxing Social. “I know what it’ll be, so it’ll be different.
“Last time out, I didn’t give Mauricio Lara credit [going into the fight]. I should have been wary about what’s coming back.
“In the first few rounds, I should have picked up on that as well. But I just ignored it and thought I’d blast him out of there. In the last few years, I’ve been such a dominant force physically.
“I’ve taken people’s souls early like Selby and Frampton. I didn’t do that. Maybe I got a little too cock-sure last time, and I know that approach can’t last.
“Fighters that I’ve known about and feared, I’m wary. But with Lara, I wasn’t. I didn’t give a f***, and I paid the price for it,” said Warrington.
If Warrington loses again, he’s got a big decision that he needs to make about his career. Lara is a good fighter, but there are better ones at 126.
If Warrington gets destroyed a second time by Lara, he can try moving up to 130 or retire. At 130, things will be equally hard for Warrington because he’ll have to deal with fighters like Oscar Valdez, Shakur Stevenson, Jamel Herring, to name just a few.
Warrington has had a lot of time to rest and digest his loss to Lara, and he obviously knows what he did wrong last time. However, no matter how much time Warrington has had to make changes in his game, there’s no guarantee that the outcome will be any different.