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Boxing

Josh Warrington vs. Mauricio Lara: Experts criticise referee and trainers for not ending fight sooner

Liam Happe
Josh Warrington vs. Mauricio Lara: Experts criticise referee and trainers for not ending fight soonerDAZN
The previously-unbeaten former world featherweight champion looked badly hurt from the fourth round all the way to the ninth.

Mauricio Lara shocked the world when he defeated former IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington with a ninth-round stoppage at the SSE Arena in Wembley, but there is an overwhelming belief that the Leeds fighter should have been withdrawn much earlier.

Warrington appeared to be shaking off 16 months of ring rust in the first three rounds against his ranked Mexican opponent, but was badly hurt by a vicious left hook in Round 4 for a knockdown.

It appeared that Howard Foster had every right to wave the fight off as Lara followed up on the knockdown with more punishment, but a wobbly Warrington was allowed to carry on and he somehow made it to the end of the round.

The pre-fight favourite regained a little of his composure in Rounds 5-8 as the 22-year-old took his foot off the gas a little, but each land was troubling Warrington, who did not recover from that damaging knockdown round.

Then, in the ninth, Lara turned up the heat once more to score a second knockdown, and this time Foster called it without administering a count.

Rather than celebrate, Lara actually sent his own corner team to go and check on his defeated opponent, with the Mexican corner closer to where Warrington hit the canvas.

Experienced trainer Adam Booth and former world cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson were pundits on Sky Sports' UK coverage of the fight, which broadcast on DAZN elsewhere across the globe.

"I would have stopped the fight in the fourth round, and I would have stopped the fight in the fifth round when he walked out," Booth said.

"If I was in his corner, I would have thrown the towel in. You could see from his legs that he hadn't recovered in the fifth round.

"He actually got caught with a heavy shot in the first round. He was more disciplined in round two and three, but then with a limited, heavy-handed puncher, stood with his head up in the air trading.

"He paid the price in the fourth round. I don't think he knew what he was doing from that point on. He didn't look like he knew where he was and it looked like a knockout waiting to happen, from that point on. I didn't enjoy watching it, if I'm honest, because I don't think it should have carried on."

While Booth spoke mostly from his own expertise as a cornerman, Nelson focused his criticism on the man in the middle.

"I'm a massive fan of The (British) Boxing Board of Control, but they had a stinker tonight," Nelson said. "I bet Josh Warrington cannot remember anything past the first knockdown. That's madness."

"Josh is a fit, fit kid, and his success up to this point has been his engine, his pace, his power, it's been underestimated," said Nelson.

"But then when you come across somebody that's got a dig and you walk straight into that, you're going to be found wanting and again, I'm worried about this young man."

Warrington went to the hospital after the fight as a precaution.