Josh Warrington exclusive diary: It’s been a good break but we’re back to it now

It was nice to have a few weeks off after the fight with Kid Galahad. I’ve been able to do some proper dad stuff. I’ve been painting my shed, going on holiday, and even enjoying little things like having my tea with my kids. It’s been lovely to be honest with you.

I get O.C.D about things. We moved into this house while I was getting ready for the Carl Frampton fight so everything got put on the back burner. After the fight I was out for about a month or so with my hand and I couldn’t even do little things around the house. I like things to be finished so I’ve had my garden done and finished off all the little jobs before we get stuck into things for this next fight. It’d only annoy me otherwise.

I stayed busy with media work for a couple of weeks after the fight and then I went away on holiday and totally switched off. Since then I’ve had a catch up with my pals and done some charity work and then last week I went and filmed A Question of Sport.

I won’t give out any spoilers but I did alright! I was absolutely shiteing myself beforehand but I managed to answer a few and I ended up doing ok. I did embarrass myself at the start but I won’t tell you why, you’ll have to watch it and find out. It was a right experience. I enjoyed it and I didn’t want it to end. I’d love to do it again.

My leg tattoo is all done now too. It’s finally finished. I probably won’t have any more now unless we have more kids and I get their names added. I know I said that after getting my calf done but that O.C.D struck again. There was a little bit of flesh still showing so I had to get it finished. That leg is all covered now.

And that’s it. It’s been a good break but we’re back to it now. I’ve got this French boy, Sofiane Takoucht on October 12th. I’m obviously very disappointed that I couldn’t get any of the other featherweight champions in the ring. Oscar Valdez is saying he’s moving up in weight now after getting his mandatory ordered against Shakur Stevenson. Leo Santa Cruz wasn’t entertaining it even though he’d said previous that he’d happily fight me. You never see anything of Gary Russell Jnr. That’s where we are.

It’s frustrating. After beating Lee Selby, Frampton, and Galahad you’d have thought that that would be it. I promised people that it’d be a Stateside trip next and if not that then a unification but it’s proven harder to do than we’d have hoped.

I had a bit of a sulk and it probably got me down a bit if I’m totally honest. I’m desperate for that big fight. I need to test myself against a big name and then I’ll be happy.

Can you imagine me against Oscar Valdez going toe to toe?

I’m over it now and I’ve decided to concentrate on winning every fight that gets put in front of me. We had to pick somebody from the top ten to fight and now it’s about showing that this is my title. I’m staying busy and racking the defences up. This will be my 30th fight and it’ll mark ten years as a pro. It’s my third title defence too so I think I get one of those nice special rings from the IBF after this one.

When all is said and done, if you look down the records of fighters like Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton, they won their titles and had a string of defences. Some of them you didn’t know the name of the opponent but people still respect them as legends.

It’s gonna be interesting to see what happens in the featherweight division. Shakur Stevenson was number three in the IBF and there wasn’t a number one or two. He’s been moved down now and it seems he’s gonna go straight into a WBO title fight now Valdez has moved up. Do you know what though? If Shakur does win the WBO belt I’ll entertain him. I’ll give him 12 rounds of hell. The same goes for Mick Conlan. You can’t fast track this business.

But we are where we are. I’m gonna come back on October 12th and give the fans a hell of a performance. They’re gonna get the fight they should have got in May against Galahad and then we’ll see what happens after that.

To see all our latest boxing markets, check out 32Red Sport here. If you’re up for a flutter on table games or the slots, be sure to check out our award-winning casino too!