A beaten Josh Warrington reacts as his hometown crowd falls silent in Leeds

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Josh Warrington said he feels ‘absolutely devastated’ after losing the IBF featherweight title to Luis Alberto Lopez on Saturday night.

Leeds fighter Warrington was competing in front of a home crowd at the First Direct Arena, where Lopez was a majority-decision winner over 12 rounds.

Mexican Lopez, 29, was deemed a 115-113 victor on two of the three judges’ scorecards, while the other read 114-114.

The result marked the second professional defeat of Warrington’s career, and the 32-year-old told DAZN after the fight: “I’m absolutely devastated losing my title like that, but I want to say a big thank you to all these [fans] for making noise, so thank you.

“I did have aspiration of doing other things. Obviously I wanted to go to the [United] States, and I still want to do that. Maybe unifying [the titles] is a step too far, but I think I can still fight one of the other champions.

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“Obviously I would have the rematch [with Lopez] as well, because I thought I was a little hard done by there.”

Meanwhile, Lopez said: “I’m really happy at the moment. It has been a long period of preparation. As I said in the build-up, this is my moment. It comes from hard work. I’m delighted to be world champion.”

The new champion also hit out at Warrington, however, accusing the Briton of dirty tactics with certain punches.

“To be honest I had to respect him – coming into his city, in front of his people,” Lopez said. “I knew he was a dirty fighter but he surprised me even more; he was hitting me to the legs, in the gut, and the referee… I didn’t feel [he] did his work.”

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