Exclusive: Josh Padley Insists His War with Shakur Stevenson Was No Fluke and He’s Out to Prove It

Josh Padley has thanked fellow South Yorkshire fighter Dalton Smith for teaching him how to truly harness his boxing ability ahead of a pivotal weekend in their respective careers.

Only two months after producing a heroic display against three weight world champion Shakur Stevenson in Riyadh, Padley faces another unbeaten opponent, Marko Cvetanoic, on the undercard of Smith’s meeting with Mathieu Germain at Sheffield’s Canon Medical Arena.

Having signed an agreement with Matchroom on the back of his performance in Saudi Arabia, which saw him take Stevenson nine rounds despite accepting the assignment at incredibly late notice, Padley is now a member of the same promotional stable as Smith - whose bout on Saturday night is designed to help prepare him for a shot at WBC super-lightweight king Alberto Puello later this year.

Speaking exclusively to SportsBoom.co.uk, Padley revealed he is determined to repay Eddie Hearn’s faith by demonstrating his most recent showing “wasn’t a fluke” and explained how working with Smith as an up-and-coming young professional taught him an invaluable lesson.

“Originally, I just liked having a tear-up as you do as a young amateur,” Padley said. 

“As I developed, I realised you can’t just have one of those as you move through the levels."

“One of the first people who really made me feel as if I could never switch off, mentally for one season, was Dalton."

“I came in for some sparring with him and I remember thinking ‘If I lose focus here for just a second then he’s going to capitalise on that.’ Dalton showed me it’s a thinking man’s game, that you can’t just go in there and brawl. Then what happened was I became obsessed with that side of the sport.”

OUT TO IMPRESS

From Doncaster, Padley has been working alongside Smith once again at the latter’s Steel City Gym; located just a short walk away from the venue which hosts Hearn’s latest show in the region. 

The 29-year-old has been on a remarkable journey since defeating fellow Briton Mark Chamberlain at Wembley Stadium in September. Subsequently drafted in to face Stevenson, when the American’s scheduled opponent Floyd Schofield Jr was forced to withdraw, he has now been able to give up his job as an electrician and focus on boxing full-time.

“I need to impress. I need to show that how I did against Stevenson wasn’t a fluke and I need to get back to winning ways. Everything is getting a bit calmer now and that has got to be the only thing on my mind," he told SportsBoom.co.uk. 

“I’ve taken lots of tips from the Shakur fight, looking at things he was doing in there, little bits and bobs where he was having success and brought them back home with me. We’ve been working on them and developing them."

“I know now what you need to do to be in there against the best pound for pound fighters and what you need to do to be at the same level as them.”

Cvetanovic (13-0) will be fighting outside of his native Serbia for the first time when he travels to England to face Padley, whose loss to Stevenson is the only one on his otherwise unblemished 16 bout resume.

“My original style was being a bit of a brawler,” Padley said. “I’ve got that in my tank still. It’s there if it's required, which can only be a good thing."

“But now I really enjoy the chess match side of boxing. I like setting traps, even though it might take a round or two for you to get something from doing that. I love the thinking side, the menstrual side, of the sport. It’s something I take a lot from and get so much enjoyment out of, even though the other side to my character is still there.”