Lee Selby Should Focus on Josh Warrington After Struggling on American Debut

Lee Selby enjoyed a winning debut on American soil. The scorecards suggest it was an easy night against Fernando Montiel, but in truth it was anything but for the Welshman.

The IBF featherweight champion will return home to Barry, Wales, with the belt still in his possession, though he may not be in a rush to return to Glendale, Arizona.

He was awarded the bout by scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 116-112, moving his record to 22-1 (8 KOs).

Yet the table had been set for Selby to do more than just defend the title.

He had wanted to put on a show in his first outing since signing a promotional deal with Al Haymon. It was the chance for him to announce himself to the rest of the featherweight division live on ESPN.

Montiel seemed the ideal man to impress against, too.

While he is a former three-weight world champion, the Mexican had never reigned at 126 pounds, and at the age of 36, he was seen as past his best.

Montiel was a decent name to add to the CV. He would pose enough of a threat but was not seen as a serious danger to spoil Selby’s best-laid plans.

However, Selby was forced to work much harder than many expected. Lauded after systematically breaking down Evgeny Gradovich in May, he must have had Americans wondering what all the fuss was about.

The 28-year-old was not pleased with his display, as he told Owen Rawlings of BBC Wales Sport:

"

I am not happy, I can box a lot better. It was my first fight in America and I wanted to impress, but I did not perform as I thought I would.

...

It was hard to find my range and land cleanly on him due to his experience.

I've got to take confidence from it. He's a top fighter so I've gained a lot of experience and dug deep when I had to.

"

So, what went wrong?

First, Selby found himself in a rather unusual situation.

When he won the title by beating Russian Gradovich, it was on a Saturday night in front of a sizeable crowd at the O2 Arena in London. His maiden defence, however, took place at the Gila River Arena. Nope, I'd never heard of it beforehand either.

The bout also took place on a Wednesday night in front of a small audience that favoured Montiel, considering Arizona’s close proximity to Mexico.

The lack of atmosphere, coupled with his over-eagerness to perform, led to Selby struggling with both his accuracy and timing.

At one stage, he suffered the embarrassment of falling forwards onto the canvas when a shot was so wayward it caused him to lose his balance completely.

Normally comfortable boxing off the back foot, Selby was reactive rather than proactive. The jab was flicked out rather than pushed right into Montiel's face.

He was also caught with the left hook on far too many occasions. There never seemed a danger of a knockdown occurring, but better fighters—bigger featherweights—would have taken note.

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It should not be overlooked, however, that Selby’s struggles were not all of his own doing.

Montiel may have had a disadvantage in terms of size (5'4" compared to Selby's 5'8 ½"), but he had the upper hand when it came to experience.

Cochulito fought only in bursts, and always towards the end of each round. Once the noise to confirm the final 10 seconds sounded, he would immediately move onto the front foot.

His tactics didn’t do enough to con the judges, though.

Selby was rightly crowned the winner, though very few on Twitter agreed with two of the three cards:

Selby suffered a cut above his right eye from a clash of heads in the sixth round. His ego may also be a little bruised.

Any talk of fighting some of the biggest names at featherweight—Selby had previously mentioned Leo Santa Cruz, per Boxing News—should be silenced for the immediate future. Instead, the Brit should return to more familiar surroundings and show he has learned from his tricky night in Arizona.

Promoter Eddie Hearn told Rawlings, "I would love to see him come back to Wales now and have a big homecoming.”

A mandatory defence is likely to be next, but Selby’s subpar display in the U.S. may have pushed him closer to a showdown with Englishman Josh Warrington in 2016.

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Warrington told Sky Sports that his domestic rival doesn’t need to be in a rush for the big names. "I don't think he should step up to unification fights yet because there were a couple of mistakes in there and against the top guys, you get punished," he said. "It'd be nice for him to go to Wales for his fans and have another learning fight."

The current Commonwealth champion, who hails from Leeds, England, obviously has an ulterior motive.

However, Selby will know that a bout with Warrington makes sense financially.

Elland Road, the home of Leeds United, would be an ideal venue, and Selby has never had an issue going on the road. In fact, it seems he relishes it.

"I’d fancy fighting there in Leeds with all the crowd," he told Press Association (h/t the Guardian) prior to facing Montiel. "I was up there at one of his fights working for Sky and they were throwing pints of beer at me and calling me all sorts of stuff. So I’d love to go up there and knock him out in front of them all."

If Selby deals with both a mandatory challenger and Warrington by the end of next summer, the time would then be right for a return to America. Just perhaps not to Glendale, though.