NOTHING GONNA STOP ME NOW

Fighter Diary by Josh Warrington

In his first diary column entry ahead of his IBF world title final eliminator against Dennis Ceylan on October 21, Josh Warrington comments on the unusual approach of the Danish former European champion at the recent press conference to promote the Leeds showdown…

I DIDN’T REALLY get what Dennis Ceylan was trying to do when we met in Leeds the other week, talking about having no chance in the fight with his skinny arms. Maybe it was a bit of an attempt at reverse psychology or trying to butter himself down!

I don’t know if he was trying to bow down and act like the scared one and then come all fired up on the night.

To be honest I think he was just trying to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes and it didn’t work. At the end of the day, I think the kid is nervous.

Obviously it is a massive opportunity for him but, without trying to sound big-headed, I think he is stepping up in class of opponent and he is coming into my backyard, which is not always an easy thing to do.

Travelling away is hard enough, but coming to somewhere like Leeds is very difficult.

Fair play to him for doing it, but look at the opportunity he has been given in a final eliminator. Look where he was going, he won the European title and had the draw with Isaac Lowe, but the world title wasn’t really on his horizon until the IBF gave him the chance to fight for this.

He has fallen on his feet and I believe he will really try and take it because opportunities like this don’t always come about. He has taken the fight and he’ll believe he can put himself into mandatory position and will give it everything.

We’ve worked too hard though over the years and beat some very credible opponents, so I am not going to let it slip when we are so close to getting a shot at the big one.

Given that he got himself into bother back in Denmark over the use of a recreational drug, he is very fortunate to get this shot and really and truthfully he is very lucky to still have a licence.

I don’t look too much into those sort of things because, at the end of the day, the IBF have ordered him and that is who I’ve got to fight to get to where I want to be.

What I do know is that has the same ambitions as me, he wants to be world champion and that is where we all strive to be. After winning the European the next step on the ladder is to win a world title and it is any boxers dream to be the No.1 in the world and lift the belt above your head.

He is unbeaten, 28 years old and in his peak years and, when you are so close to world title glory, you are going to give it absolutely everything. That is what he is going to try and do.

But, this is what we have been working towards for the last three years, so he is in for a hard night.