By Keith Idec

Josh Warrington swears he “begged” Frank Warren to get him a featherweight title unification fight next.

Warren contends he made a lucrative offer to Leo Santa Cruz for Southern California’s Santa Cruz to come to England to battle Warrington on his home turf. Santa Cruz’s handlers turned it down, according to Warren, which in part led to Warrington agreeing to face France’s Sofiane Takoucht on October 12 in his hometown of Leeds, England.

Warren discussed the difficulty in making fights for Warrington with other featherweight champions during an interview with IFL TV that was posted to its YouTube channel Wednesday.

“Santa Cruz doesn’t wanna come here,” Warren said. “We made him quite a big offer to bring him over here. And they made us a pretty crappy offer for us to go there. It was like – it was ridiculous. So, we’re just gonna keep him busy, and we’re gonna force these fights and make these fights happen. In the meantime, I wanna get Josh out, so he’s out there.”

By “they,” Warren referred to Al Haymon, Santa Cruz’s adviser and the behind-the-scenes organizer of Premier Boxing Champions. To face Santa Cruz, the WBA “super” featherweight champion, as part of a PBC show, Warrington would’ve had to fight on FOX or Showtime.

Warrington’s fights in the United States are streamed by ESPN+ as part of the IBF featherweight champ’s co-promotional agreement with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. Santa Cruz thus would’ve had to box on ESPN as part of an agreement to travel to England for a fight with Warrington.

Beyond Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 KOs) and Warrington (29-0, 6 KOs), Gary Russell Jr. is boxing’s other recognized featherweight champion. Russell (30-1, 18 KOs) holds the WBC title.

Shakur Stevenson (12-0, 7 KOs) and Joet Gonzalez (23-0, 14 KOs) are expected to fight at some point in the fall for the WBO crown Valdez vacated.

Warrington discussed facing Stevenson if he beats Gonzalez and Santa Cruz during a separate interview with IFL TV on Wednesday.

“If he wins a title, I’m just desperate to fight any world champions,” Warrington said of Stevenson. “I feel that anyone that calls me out, then they can have a go. But I’m just desperate to fight [world champions]. I don’t wanna look back on me career and think, ‘Ah, it came too late.’ You know, ‘I’m f*cking past me prime.’ Or I don’t wanna look back on me career and think, ‘F*cking, what if I had the right chance against – I mean, I’d love to have fight Oscar Valdez or Leo Santa Cruz. I think them two would’ve been like barnstormers, something that boxing fans would’ve talked about for years to come.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.