Kid Galahad won’t make the same mistake against Kiko Martinez on Saturday that his old foe Josh Warrington made in his first fight against Mauricio Lara.
Warrington, by his own admission, was distracted by the prospect of world title fights beyond Lara in their initial clash in February.
And the shock defeat he suffered at the hands of the Mexican blew apart his hopes of taking on Leo Santa Cruz, Garry Russell Junior and Can Xu later this year.
IBF featherweight champion Galahad — real name Barry Awad — hopes to go toe-to-toe with the division’s other world champions next year but he knows any opportunities to do so will be lost if he slips up against Martinez in his home city of Sheffield.
Galahad, 31, said: “Josh Warrington wasn’t the first and he’s not going to be the last fighter to take his eye off the ball.
“Just a few weeks ago we had Mikey Garcia, who’s in the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters, and he got beaten by Sandor Martin from Spain.
“Who would ever think he’d get beaten by him? But he took his eye off the ball and got beat.
“That’s what happens in this game, you can’t afford to make mistakes, you can’t afford to take your eye off the ball, you have to be on it all the time.
“It’s not like football where you might lose this one and the next one you can win.
“No, you might lose and that’s it, your career could be over or you could end up getting killed, you don’t know.”
Galahad lost to Warrington 2019 but now holds the title the Leeds fighter vacated ahead of his first meeting with Lara.
He added: “I learned so much from the fight against Josh that it has made me into a better fighter.
“I’ve never been in a fight and not learnt something, even if it’s one or two little things.
“It’s always about getting better and when you get to this position — I’m very well seasoned — I can’t see another featherweight who can beat me.
“Of course, I want the unifications but I have to make sure I do a job on Kiko Martinez.
“He can punch, he’s strong, he’s fit, he comes to fight and it’s not going to be a walkover job.”
