It was a close contest, but IBF Featherweight champion Josh Warrington (29-0, 6 KOs) managed to squeak by with a split decision victory over Kid Galahad (26-1, 15 KOs).
The contest took place at the First Direct Arena in Leeds Yorkshire in the United Kingdom on Saturday, June 15 and streamed live on ESPN+ in the United States.
It was Galahad’s first crack at a world title and he gave it everything he had.
Early on in the contest both men had a hard time finding their rhythm. The first three rounds saw each man find very little success. They spent the majority of those early rounds holding onto one another.
Galahad did his best to confuse his man as he switched from southpaw to orthodox several times throughout the contest. Surprisingly enough, Galahad found most of his success when he turned southpaw as he was increasingly difficult to hit.
Warrington continued to press forward as the fight continued. However, the IBF champion seemed puzzled as to the tactics Galahad employed all fight long.
The championship rounds were not pretty to say the least. Both men could not connect cleanly with punches and there were plenty of moments of holding. The crowd tried to back their champion Warrington in the final round as they felt he was behind on the scorecards, but he still could not find his timing.
Everything seemed set up perfectly for Galahad to pick up his first world title. Unfortunately, he did not press forward and force the action. Instead, he seemed content with holding and smothering his own attack on the inside.
As the final bell rang, it was anyone’s guess as to who won this closely contested matchup. In the end, Warrington did just enough to score a split decision victory and hold on to his title.
One judge scored the contest 115-113 in favor of Galahad, while the two remaining judges scored it 116-112 and 116-113 in favor of Warrington.
After pulling in such a close victory, Warrington will undoubtedly turn his attention to the likes of Leo Santa Cruz and Gary Russell Jr. in the hopes of landing a big fight in the near future.
