THE NEXT IBF FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPION?

On the contrary to his name, Kid Galahad is actually one of the big boys of the featherweight division in regards to his quality. Last Saturday he defeated top five ranked Claudio Marrero in convincing style. He forced his Dominican Republic opponent to retire after an eight-round display of world class, accurate boxing alongside crafty footwork. Stakes were high for both fighters as the winner would become mandatory challenger for a shot at Josh Warrington’s IBF title.

Galahad has already been there and done that with Warrington as the two met last year with the title on the line. This resulted in very controversial fashion as the judges on the night felt Warrington outpointed his opponent despite a strong performance from Galahad which convinced people he won. This not only sparked debate across Yorkshire (where both boxers reside) but across Britain. Even iconic fighters came out and addressed the infamous result, notably Prince Naseem Hamed who told Galahad he would have won it if their fight was at any other venue. This is because the bout was held in Leeds, home of Warrington which was used as the pivotal argument by many to prove it was a robbery.

The IBF Governing body also felt the fight could’ve gone either way thus granting the Sheffield native a title eliminator fight against Marrero which he prevailed in on Saturday. So now the highly anticipated grudge match seems to be set for this year, Galahad is almost unavoidable for Warrington being in the position of mandatory challenger however there still are other options for the ‘Leeds Warrior’.

Eddie Hearn, promotor of Galahad, acknowledged this in the post-fight press conference saying “Warrington may be looking to unify the belts and rather than fighting [Galahad] he may look to move up to super featherweight”. If Warrington was to move up in weight class, his current IBF featherweight belt would be vacated meaning, much to fans disappointment, the rematch with the same stakes as last time wouldn’t happen.

The champions intentions are still up in the air though as there has been no confirmation what is next for him. Galahad explained what would be his “ideal situation” regarding Warrington’s next step. “Hopefully he gets unification and I get to fight him for two titles.” This highlights perfectly how confident the boxer from Ingle’s gym is as he is sure he could take whatever belt Warrington has.

As 29- year old Galahad isn’t the only option for Warrington, the ‘Leeds Warrior’ also isn’t the only option for him. This is something Hearn pointed out in the post-fight presser saying “Although we now have a cast iron shot at the IBF there is also Can Xu…and Gary Russell [Jr].” Can Xu is the WBA featherweight champion and Gary Russell Jr holds the WBC belt in the same division. Galahad (real name Bari Awad) will be high in the ranking to fight either of these champions for their belts following his recent triumph to become #1 contender on the weekend. This shows that even though the IBF title shot may be the most probable, there are other paths Bari can take to become a champion in the featherweight division.

Having five titles for each respective governing body in the boxing industry allows endless title fight possibilities as it has been made clear with this situation. But when one looks at Kid Galahad’s ranking in the division along with his sublime boxing talent, it almost looks certain that he will be the next featherweight champion.

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Max Taylor articles