Josh Warrington vs. Kid Galahad ordered by IBF

By Tim Royner

Boxingnews24.com

Josh Warrington (28-0, 6 KOs) will need to defend his IBF World featherweight title against his mandatory challenger Kid Galahad (26-0, 15 KOs) next, according to Michael Benson. The International Boxing Federation has ordered Warrington, 28, to defend his title against Galahad next.

The two fighters have until next month on February 6 to negotiate the fight. If they don’t have a deal put together by that time, the IBF will order a purse bid. Unfortunately for Warrington, there will be no exceptions. This is a fight that he must take.

It was predicted by many boxing fans that the IBF would soon order Warrington to face Galahad after his recent eliminator match against Toka Kahn Clary, who he defeated by a 12 round unanimous decision

This is unquestionably a step down for Warrington from his last fight against Carl Frampton on December 22. Warrington defeated former two division world champion Frampton by an impressive 12 round unanimous decision to turn back the threat. For ages, boxing fans had been saying that Frampton would trounce Warrington, but they turned out to be wrong. Warrington had too much youth, too much energy and too good of an engine for the aging 31-year-old Frampton. Galahad is a good fighter, but he’s not at the level of Frampton, Warrington, Gary Russell Jr. or Oscar Valdez. Galahad is just a small step below those fighters in the talent department in this writer’s view. Galahad is a good fighter, but he’s missing the punching power and the overall talent that the elite level fighters possess.

This would be a huge upset if Galahad beats Warrington. There would be a lot of shocked boxing fans if Galahad is able to pull off a win in this fight. On paper, Warrington wins this match seven days a week, 365 days a year. He’s just a better fighter than Galahad, but fights aren’t fought on paper. Warrington is going to need to go out there and prove that he’s the better man on the night.

Taking a fight with Galahad could work in Warrington’s favor. This is a very winnable fight for Warrington, so the IBF is doing him a big favor in ordering him to defend against Galahad. If not for this, Warrington might have been looking to face the other champions Gary Russell Jr. [WBC], Leo Santa Cruz [WBA] or Oscar Valdez [WBO] in unification fights. As good as Warrington looked in beating Frampton, it might be asking too much for him to beat those type of fighters.

Galahad has a chance of putting himself on the boxing map if he can beat Warrington. Right now, Galahad isn’t talked about much on the world level, but he can change that if he beats Warrington. Galahad is viewed by a lot of boxing fans as more of a domestic level guy rather than a true world class fighter. If he can pull off the upset against Warrington, Galahad will show that he’s good as any of the fighters at 126.