Warburton says pressure is on Heaney for retirement rematch

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Gerome Warburton (right) made his professional debut in 2019

By Aled Williams

BBC Sport Wales

• Published16 minutes ago

Welsh boxer Gerome Warburton says the pressure will be on Nathan Heaney when they face each other once again on Saturday evening.

The 31-year-old defeated former British champion Heaney, 37, on points in March to secure the WBA Continental Middleweight title.

Heaney – who has won 19 of his 22 professional bouts – will retire following the rematch against Warburton at Birmingham’s BP Pulse Live venue.

“The pressure is still on him,” Warburton told BBC Sport Wales.

“I don’t feel pressure in any fight or anything like that. I’m always the away fighter, and I think I thrive off that.

“I won’t feel pressure in big stadiums, press conferences or being away from home because I’ve experienced it all more than once now. It’s nothing new.”

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Warburton, from Colwyn Bay, described his win over Heaney at Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena in March as “surreal”.

He fought before a crowd of 15,000, which included over 2,000 of Heaney’s supporters from Stoke-on-Trent, on that triumphant night.

“There was a lot of pressure on me to win the fight – I don’t know where I’d have gone if I’d have lost it,” Warburton said.

“But I took the opportunity with both hands, dealt with everything in the best possible way I could and got the job done.

“People didn’t expect me to perform the way that I did.

“But my management, my team around me, they all believe in me and they know what I’m capable of. On the night I showed it.”

With no rematch clause stipulated in the deal struck for Warburton’s previous meeting with Heaney, the southpaw boxer had eyes on other prizes.

But one phone call altered the Welshman’s plans, and left him with an easy decision.

“We were looking at maybe taking the next step ahead, maybe potentially fighting for another title or something like that,” Warburton explained.

“We had a few opportunities that we turned down. We weren’t in any rush.

“Then we got a phone call to say that Nathan Heaney said that he wants his last fight to be against you. Would you take it?

“We just said yes straight away. It’s just an opportunity that you can’t turn down, so we took it.”

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Gerome Warburton beat Nathan Heaney by unanimous decision in March

Warburton made his professional debut in 2019 and three years later won the Welsh middleweight title with victory over Morgan Jones.

One of two losses in 21 professional bouts came against Kieron Conway when fighting for the vacant British middleweight title in May 2025.

And the ultimate ambition for the Bodelwyddan-born fighter – nicknamed The Bread Maker – is a world title shot.

“I never set out to win a world title,” Warburton said.

“I just set out to just see how far I could go. I won a Welsh title; that was it for me really.

“Obviously, I never won one as an amateur, so I just wanted to win a Welsh title.

“But the world’s turned out to be my oyster, so hard work and dedication have got me to where I am.

“And fortunately now we’re talking world title fights, and we’re not talking just little domestic fights; it’s world level,

“It’s crazy to think, just a boy from Colwyn Bay, training hard and living his dream, and it’s coming true.”

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