A Look at Possible Josh Warrington Opponent Xu Can

A Look at Possible Josh Warrington Opponent Xu Can

By Isaac Martin

Following Saturday’s emphatic TKO victory against Sofiane Takoucht, Josh Warrington has several options for his next bout and admittedly seems keener on some than others.

Warrington has made it no secret that he wants a unification fight and how one day he wants to fight in America but with Leo Santa Cruz and Oscar Valdez seemingly avoiding the Leeds born fighter, that bout looks very unlikely at this time.

His promoter Frank Warren bought up the possibility of another fight at Elland several times during the build up to the Takoucht fight but also while speaking ringside to BT Sport, the boxing Hall of Fame promoter also discussed the idea of a Carl Frampton rematch, saying a re run of the fight of last year would be an ‘Exciting’ option.

Another option mentioned by both Warrington and Warren would be a fight against current WBA featherweight title holder Xu Can. Although Can has a bout at the end of November, his third title defence, Frank Warren believes this would be the perfect fight to take to Elland Road.

Xu, originally from Suzhou in the south-east of China, showed a notable interest in the sport as a young child and soon gained support from his parents to chase his dreams. As part of that support Xu and his family moved from Suzhou to Kunming to help him get the training, he needed to build a career for himself.

Kunming was one of the few places with any notable boxing in China at that time. Chinese boxing promoter Liu Gang’s gym took Xu under his wing and began to prepare him to become a professional boxer.

The youngster would make his professional debut in 2013, as a 19-year-old. On his debut Xu would outpoint fellow debutant Tang Yuan Yuan over 4 rounds.

It would be 5 months until he would fight again, travelling to Kanazawa in Japan to defeat Kota Hamamoto, with another 4-round decision.

Sadly, for Xu his rise would be hit in June 2014 when he was beaten by split decision by Indian Neeraj Goyat.

Xu would then suffer his second loss only a few months later, losing a 6 round majority decision to Bao Dong. Despite a win splitting those two losses Xu’s rise through the ranks had been hit hard with his record then standing at 3-2.

Despite the struggling start Xu would begin to find his feet in 2015 when he defeated Englishman Josh Baillie over 6 rounds. The win over Baillie was followed by a notable victory over Japan’s Hurricane Futa. That win seemed to show how good Xu was, and showed the tools he had developed since his defeats.

Xu would return to the ring over a month after beating Futa, travelling to Australia to face off with the then unbeaten Kris George for the WBA Oceania light welterweight title.

George was out pointed by Xu over 10 rounds in a notable upset as Xu continued to make the most of his opportunities when he was able to fight away from China.

Xu dropped down to super featherweight just weeks later when he returned and took a decision win over tough Thai foe Chaiyong Sithsaithong for the WBA Oceania super featherweight title.

It was a third notable win for Xu who was starting to make noise internationally but still seemed a long way from getting a massive bout.

The impressive run continued in 2016 with Xu kicking off the year by unifying the WBA Oceania super featherweight title with the WBA International title. He did that by out boxing dangerous Brazilian Isaias Santos Sampaio over 12 rounds, in what was his first 12 round bout.

In his first defence of the unified titles Xu took on Corey McConnell, who’s who only loss at the point had come to Lee Selby.

The talented McConnell was seen as a real challenge for Xu but he was unable to match the speed, activity and movement of Xu, who took a clear decision over the Australian.

By the end of 2016, Xu had scored two more wins taking the unbeaten record of Ramiro Blanco and defeating talented Japanese fighter Spicy Matsushita. Those wins had seen Xu string together 9 wins in less than 2 years.

That had helped Xu into the world rankings, but he still had to show more before anyone would take him seriously, and whilst his run was impressive, he had failed to score a single stoppage.

That inability to stop an opponent was an easy one to remedy and in May 2017 he was again taken the distance, this time by Jack Asis, though scored yet another win over a notable foe.

In late 2017 Xu, who had fought as high as light welterweight, dropped down to featherweight and took on his most notable opponent to date. That was former world champion Nehomar Cermeno.

Although Cermeno had been beaten 6 months earlier by Shun Kubo he was still viewed as a very dangerous opponent for Xu and had gone 3-0 (2) in China before facing Xu.

Despite Cermeno’s reputation as a tricky fighter Xu seemed to show little fear in taking the fight to him and left him with a badly swollen face and found the space to land some brilliant combinations that helped break Cermeno’s before he retired at the end of round 7.

Although Xu hadn’t knocked out Cermeno he did impress and managed to score his second professional stoppage when he returned to the ring 9 months later, stopping Filipino foe Jelbirt Gomera in 7 rounds.

In January 2019, Xu wrested the 126-pound crown from Jesus Rojas of Puerto Rico in Houston, Texas, in to become the third Chinese to win a pro world title.

This is the title that Warrington with be looking to take from Xu in his next bout, so watch this space! If Xu defends his title for the third straight time against Manny Robles III then a fight against Warrington could be on the cards at Elland Road sometime in early 2020.