By now the world knows the story of Josh Padley. The Doncaster electrician who went from installing solar panels on Tuesday to fighting pound-for-pound star Shakur Stevenson on Saturday.
Padley became one of the stories of the week in Saudi Arabia when he answered the late call to step in as a replacement for Floyd Schofield to face Stevenson after the American challenger was taken ill.
He made the WBC lightweight world champion work for nine rounds before finally succumbing to a series of vicious body shots, skyrocketing his stock and no doubt earning himself further opportunities on the Riyadh Season stage.
With life-changing money comes the chance to turn his full attention to his career in the ring.
Shakur Stevenson pushes Josh Padley after a heated head-to-head ahead of their WBC lightweight world title fight
“Luckily I am in a position now where I can probably pack that in and fully dedicate my life to boxing,” Padley told Sky Sports. “I’m grateful for that, thank you to Turki for giving me that opportunity, we’ll be back.
“There’s more of that to come. That was four days’ notice. Eight-week camp and I know I’ll be better.”
Stevenson had attempted to intimidate Padley during a fiery face-off at Friday’s weigh-in, but was forced to be patient in the face of a gritty and calculated performance from the Yorkshireman the following night.
His class eventually did tell as he wore Padley’s defences down, but not before the 29-year-old won himself countless new fans through his willingness to stand and trade with the champion.
Shakur Stevenson entered the ring to the tune of ‘I Just Can’t Wait to Be King’ from The Lion King
“I would have loved to have got the win and there would have been some back story to it, but didn’t get it,” said Padley.
“I tried my hardest, no regrets, I gave it everything I could but the body wasn’t conditioned to take them shots.”
Padley’s opportunity had arisen in the wake of September’s unanimous decision win over Mark Chamberlain, who had been a favourite of Turki Alalshikh.
The win meanwhile lifted Stevenson’s record to 23-0 as he followed up the victory by calling out Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in what would serve as one of the biggest fights in boxing.
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“He was good, there were times when I thought he was out of range and he wasn’t he was in range,” said Padley. “There are levels to this and he’s clearly a few levels above me at this time.
“I’ll get back in the gym, rebuild and hopefully build back to this level.
“I’m proud of myself, I did as well as I could, everybody else is proud, no regrets. I’ll come again and fight again.”
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