Josh Warrington has explained that he feels back to his best as he prepares to fight Leigh Wood this Saturday.
Wood will put his WBA featherweight title on the line as the two go at it, live on DAZN.
Warrington is a two-time world champion but has defeats against Mauricio Lara and Luis Alberto Lopez against him, and after almost a year out of the ring, he has the chance to become a belt-holder for the third time in his career.
After showing vulnerabilities in both those disappointing defeats, he told 32Red that he was feeling more steady.
“It feels like normal this time,” Warrington said. “The two fights I had last year, my mindset going into both of them was completely different. I’d beaten Kiko Martinez before but though he was still very dangerous, I was very, very relaxed all the way through the whole build up. The Lopez fight was different.
“For four or five weeks before it I was having sleepless nights. It was so much of a mental rollercoaster. I can’t put my finger on why but it’s just how it was. This time around I feel like I’m back to how I was before Martinez. I’m very confident. I’m focused on the job and I just cant wait to get in there now."
He continued: “This is a familiar feeling to being written off before the fights with Lee Selby and Carl Frampton.
“My mindset has certainly matured a lot since then but when people start to write you off and make their own assumptions it motivates me. You know the type of thing, ‘He’s seen better days’ or ‘He might be past it blah, blah, blah.’ Look, Leigh’s three years older than me and they’re putting him on a higher pedestal than me. It gets my back up. I can’t explain it enough.
“I’ve always thrived off the support of the people who get behind me but as soon as someone says that I can’t do it, something else comes out of me. I want to prove to you that I can. I’m constantly trying to impress. I’ve carried that energy throughout this camp. There might be a training session when I feel a bit tired or something like that but you just have to think about something that you’ve read online or something that you’ve heard something say. All of a sudden, you’re pumped and ready to go. That’s the mentality I’ve had right through this camp.”