Eddie Hearn targets ‘wild’ night in Vegas after Josh Warrington regains crown

Eddie Hearn has warned Las Vegas to get ready for a “wild” night of boxing after Josh Warrington regained the IBF featherweight crown.

Warrington delivered a devastating display to stop Spain’s Kiko Martinez at a raucous First Direct Arena in his home city of Leeds on Saturday night and become a two-time world champion.

The “Leeds Warrior” is now back in prime position with regards a career-defining world unification fight and Matchroom Sport chief Hearn is ready to turn his American dream into reality.

Hearn said: “I just think it would be wild. It’s hard to say Ricky Hatton-esque because that was just amazing. But Josh would take 10,000-plus to Vegas and it would be, I mean they’d have to prepare for it, Vegas. I know Vegas is a wild place, but they’ve seen nothing like this. We took 800 once to Germany when Josh had an eight-rounder, 800, and they’re are still getting over that, not the 800, Germany. So it would be wild.”

Warrington, 31, had slipped down the pecking order after his previous two fights in 2021, which saw him knocked out by Mexico’s Mauricio Lara before their rematch ended in a technical draw. But he was back to his whirlwind best in front of his army of fans against Martinez, knocking him to the canvas in the opening round and finally halting the Spaniard in the seventh.

The Yorkshireman did not come through unscathed against a teak-tough opponent and later required surgery to repair a broken jaw and left hand.

Hearn said: “Because we’ve got a television deal in America – normally you’d hope that you can make a fight with someone else – but we can use one of our dates in America for that. Really, it’s [WBA super-featherweight champion Leo] Santa Cruz or [WBO champion Emanuel] Navarrete, that’s the two