JOSH PADLEY has admitted he is ready to give up his day job after fighting lightweight world champion Shakur Stevenson.
The Doncaster bruiser took on Stevenson at just four days’ notice after Floyd Schofield dropped out after being allegedly ‘poisoned’.
Padley, 29, may have lost the bout, but last nine rounds and earned plenty of plaudits for his performance.
He has now insisted that he is ready to box full-time and give up his part-time job as an electrician.
He had been managing the load by training alongside the part-time role.
He had even been working on a construction site on the Tuesday morning before he got the call to see if he could fight Stevenson
He told Sky Sports: “Luckily I am in a position now where I can probably pack that in and fully dedicate my life to boxing.
“I’m grateful for that, thank you to [Turki Alalshikh] for giving me that opportunity, we’ll be back.
“There’s more of that to come.
“That was four days’ notice. Eight-week camp and I know I’ll be better.”
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Padley was presented with a medal by the WBC after the fight with Stevenson.
He joked: “Not quite the hardware I had in mind to come back with.
“But the rebuild will be on and very good possibility of being a full-time athlete.”
Padley also admitted that he left the ring after the defeat to Stevenson without any regrets.
He added: “I would have loved to have got the win and there would have been some back story to it, but didn’t get it.
“I tried my hardest, no regrets, I gave it everything I could but the body wasn’t conditioned to take them shots.”
He made a name for himself after beating Alalshikh favourite Mark Chamberlain in September 2024.
Stevenson spoke about the fight after being named the win and insisted he could have finished it earlier.
He said: “I barely got touched. Yeah, I probably could have got the stoppage a little bit earlier, but there’s always going to be something to critique.
“As long as I enjoyed what I did, that’s all that matters.
“I was knocking out the ring rust. I fought in July. If I can stay active and stay locked in, I’m good.
“He was supposed to come in here and give it his all, make sure he can make it to the 12th round.
“That’s what he was trying to do. So, I succeeded at my job and he was trying to do his job.”
Who is Josh Padley and what is his boxing record?
Josh Padley is a British Lightweight boxer who has recently rose to fame after fans have found out that he is a part-time electrician.
Before his most recent fight, Padley was seen fighting on small fight events against much lesser-known boxers, forcing the electrician to keep his part-time job for the much-needed income.
His last fight held at Wembley Stadium truly put him on the map with a huge upset after beating Turki Alalshikh’s favourite fighter, Mark Chamberlain.
Padley has been a professional boxer for just six years now and with a record of 15 wins and zero losses he now takes a huge step in his career as he takes on Shakur Stevenson for the WBC World Lightweight title.
With a win on Saturday night, it would be one of the biggest upsets in boxing history and one of the greatest underdog stories we have seen in recent British boxing.
