New IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington has made it clear who he wants to fight next.
The ‘Leeds Warriors’ overcame Kiko Martinez in their rematch last weekend at the city’s First Direct Arena to become two-time world champion at 126lbs.
While recovering from a broken jaw and broken arm, the 31-year-old has said who he wants to fight next.
“Santa Cruz is a name I have been shouting about for a long time. He was the champion when I first won the title in 2018,” Warrington told the Press Association.
“It has an attachment to going to America. How long ago did I say I wanted to come to the United States? “I did everything I wanted here in terms of the place I wanted to be in.
“It’s just something personal, a personal goal that I want to achieve by fighting in America, in someone else’s backyard. Santa Cruz in the United States. ”
Unity against the WBA ‘Super’ champion could replace a mandatory defense against current IBF number one challenger Luis Alberto Lopez. Warrington promoter Eddie Hearn also hung a battle carrot at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground against WBA ‘Regular’ belt holder Leigh Wood.
Warrington though appears to have a three-man battle plan marked which includes Wood as well as the man who inflicted the IBF champion’s first career defeat.
“Santa Cruz, then book [Mauricio] Lara to bed and then Leigh Wood, a major domestic duel at the City Ground.
“That was amazing. I would be very happy with that. Let’s see what happens.”
