JOSH WARRINGTON suffered a fractured jaw and burst eardrum in his brutal loss to Mauricio Lara.
And Carl Frampton appears genuinely concerned about the star’s ability to bounce back from Saturday night’s brutal shock defeat.
The 30-year-old Leeds icon was a red-hot favourite to walk through the 22-year-old Mexican unknown, who lost his 2015 debut and was knocked out in the first round of a 2018 loss.
But Lara dropped Warrington in the fourth and ninth rounds before the fight was waved off, with the brave Brit needing oxygen to help him recover in the Wembley arena ring.
Ringside medics gave Warrington the all clear but he went on to a West London hospital for more tests and is today celebrating his twin daughters’ third birthdays at home while nursing his injuries.
And former foe Frampton, who lost a brilliant 2018 fight to Warrington on points that helped forge a friendship between the pair, took to his YouTube channel to share his concerns.
The 33-year-old said: “I thought he took a lot of punishment and, when he stood up to come out for the fifth round, he did not look right.
“In my opinion, he should have been pulled out at the end of the fourth, before the fifth started. And he should have been pulled out again at the end of the fifth.
“Fights like that, when they are that brutal, are like having four or five fights in one night.
“It is going to be hard to come back from that physically and mentally.
“Josh is going to have a load of criticism now, people calling him crap, but Josh Warrington is a very good fighter who just had a really bad night.
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“Credit to Lara and his team, I hope he goes on to get a world title shot. I am disappointed for Josh and I think it is going to be a long road back.”
It was a skull-rattling left hook in the fourth round that sparked the end of Warrington’s 30-fight undefeated run.
The former IBF featherweight’s legs betrayed him and he showed incredible heart to remain upright until a similar shot felled him.
The final 20 seconds of the round were painful to watch as Warrington’s tattooed body turned to jelly but referee Howard Foster refused to step in.
Warrington suffered five more rounds of punishment until a volley of left hooks drove him into the canvas again, where he needed oxygen after being saved from anymore assaults.
And Frampton believes he benefited from home advantage to last so long but struggled swapping his usual raucous Leeds arena for the silent West London venue.
“I thought the only way he could lose was through complacency and Josh was complacent,” the two-weight world champ said.
“After the first 30 seconds I thought Warrington was going to enjoy an easy night, I thought it might be a bit embarrassing for Lara. But he turned it around.
“I have fought in a bubble and I did not like the lack of atmosphere, I am used to big crowds and loud atmospheres and so is Josh. That probably affected him as well but we have to give Lara all the credit in the world.
T”he way Josh was in the fourth round, if it was the other way round, the fight would have been stopped.
“But, because Josh was the name and the home fighter, he was given the benefit of the doubt and that happens. It was hard to watch from that point on to the knockout.”
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