Eddie Hearn has shared a picture of Josh Warrington laid up in a hospital bed with a broken jaw and a broken hand after regaining his IBF featherweight title on Saturday night.
In front of a packed house at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, Warrington felled his opponent Kiko Martinez in a pulsating first round before claiming victory in the seventh. Despite becoming a two-time champion, the 31-year-old was taken straight to hospital after the fight amid fears he had done serious damage to himself.
Those fears were realised when Matchroom promoter Hearn shared an image of Warrington’s cracked jaw on social media at 3:50am. He captioned the snap: “Confirmed from the hospital @J_Warrington clean break of his jaw prior to stopping Kiko Martinez to win the world title tonight.”
Hearn provided another update on social media on Sunday evening, confirming that Warrington had also sustained a broken hand in the fight.
Tweeting a picture of the fighter with one of fist in the air and the other in a cast, Hearn wrote: “Sometimes you gotta ask yourself how bad do you want it! Broken jaw, broken hand but the NEW champion of the World @J_Warrington.”
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(Image: @MichaelBensonn/Twitter)
Warrington referenced his battle scars in a post on Sunday morning. He wrote: “Team Warrington and my family have pushed me all the way this camp and again and again we’ve said Kiko would not be fitter, stronger or faster than me on the night and we proved right. But Kiko can still bang, the body can feel it this morning!”
The Leeds fighter can now look forward to a potential football grudge match with Nottingham Forest fan Leigh Wood at the club’s historic City Ground home. But he’s also keen on a big international away day in Las Vegas too.
Asked about a future clash with Wood, Warrington said: “If we need to go and boot the doors off of the City Ground, we’ll do it. Away day, we’ll do it but for a long time we’ve wanted to go to the States. These lot have their passports at the ready, credit cards at the ready. We want an away day.”
Warrington wasn’t the only home favourite to win on the card. Adopted Whites fan Ebanie Bridges had earlier claimed her first world title after beating Maria Cecilia Roman for the IBF female bantamweight title.