By Declan Taylor
SUPER-featherweight newcomer Josh Warrington might have a few more pounds to play with but he has hailed his father-trainer Sean O’Hagan’s ‘incredible’ eight stone weight loss.
Warrington makes his 130lb debut at Wembley on Saturday September 21st in a challenge for Anthony Cacace’s IBF title.
But while the Leeds Warrior will be bigger than he’s ever been during fight week, O’Hagan has been rapidly dropping in size after he had gastric sleeve surgery.
And Warrington, the former two-time IBF featherweight champion, says the dramatic weight loss has changed his dad’s life – and made ordering team kit much easier.
Warrington said: “He’s lost eight stone, which is almost equivalent of me. It’s incredible. He had a gastric sleeve so he had like 80 per cent of his stomach taken away.
“He’s surrounded by professional athletes day-in, day-out and the man knows what to do. He knows about discipline and he tells us about it too. He knows about nutrition and food because he comes from a training background.
“But I’ve never seen him weigh less than 18st. As you get older your motivation to lose weight dwindles but he was at a stage of health where he was getting a few aches and pains and was constantly going to the doctors, taking loads of medication.
“So he had the gastric sleeve and it has changed his life. He will say it himself – he was greedy and never felt like he was full. He used to be able to have fish, chips, mushy peas, battered sausages, bread and butter, polish the lot off. These days he can get a children’s portion and be full after half of it.
“It’s amazing, he’s on no tablets now, changing himself and eating a lot healthier. It’s good to see man.
“When we get the team t-shirts I used to ask what size he wanted. He’d ask for a 4XL and it would turn up and he’d say it was too big. Now, he can just get normal t-shirts. It’s fantastic.”