Thursday 19 May 2016 17:43, UK
Josh Warrington has branded world champion Lee Selby 'a cry baby' and insists he will still force a clash with the Welshman.
IBF featherweight title holder Selby (23-1-KO8) had been expected to defend against Warrington (23-0-KO4) at Elland Road this summer but issued a statement on Thursday claiming talks have broken down due to Warrington's wedding commitments.
When asked for his response to Selby's statement, Warrington told Sky Sports: "Stop being a cry baby, Selby.
"At first, I let it get under my skin a bit and was disappointed he'd reverted to that but then I had a cup of tea, cut the grass, calmed down and started to see the funny side.
"It's embarrassing for him, really. He's a world champion and he's stuck in a bit of a position. My wedding has been on the cards for the last few years and we booked it then. It was a gamble but we thought we'd have boxed for the world title a bit sooner.
"We thought the Selby fight would happen this year but after talks between Matchroom and Leeds United revealed it couldn't happen this year, we thought it would happen next year. We want to make ourselves mandatory to fight for the IBF title now.
"This offer came about only last week and from our side it was left that this July seems a bit soon because I've got a lot of planning to do with the wedding and have other things going on besides boxing. Fighting for a world title is a massive occasion so I wanted to get the wedding out of the way and do it later in the year.
He's changed his mind about me - one minute I'm not in his league and why should he give me a shot and the next it's that I'm an easy pay day...
"The fight we want is Selby. All of the other champions - Gary Russell Jr and Vasyl Lomachenko - are elite. Those two are in the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Selby is not elite. He's world class and has a world title but he's not in the same league as them. That's why he has nowhere to go.
"It's a sticky situation for Selby. If he goes and fights Russell Jr or Lomachenko then there's a big chance that he'd lose his world title and I've heard from a few people that he struggles at the weight. He probably can't be a featherweight forever so he's probably looking for a pay day before he has to move up.
"I feel I'm 100 per cent in a better position than him. Don't get me wrong; world champions have people calling them out but nobody wants him. He went over to America but didn't show anything against Fernando Montiel.
"He's changed his mind about me - one minute I'm not in his league and why should he give me a shot and the next it's that I'm an easy pay day... He chops and changes his mind and now he's got nowhere to go.
"After yesterday we were prepared to postpone the wedding even though we've put a lot of money into it already, but he had a six or seven-month build-up before he boxed Evgeny Gradovich and now he's tried to spring it on us and say we had a month-and-a-half to prepare.
"Elland Road is still the one. When we found out it couldn't be there this year, the game plan became to make ourselves mandatory for the IBF. That's what we've got to do and if Selby is still champion at Christmas then we could both sign it off and have a five-month build-up for next May.
"Nobody is avoiding him and nobody is running scared. We want the fight and we don't have to wait until next year - we could still have it this year. It's us who generates the interest though, and we don't fancy fighting in a little shed in Wales though - we want to fight in arenas and stadiums."
Warrington last fought on April 16 when he recorded an impressive points victory over Japan's highly-rated Hisashi Amagasa (30-6-2-KO20) in Leeds - a week after Selby defended his world title against Eric Hunter.
