Kid Galahad says he has no interest in knocking his old rival Josh Warrington even though he now holds Warrington's old world title.

Galahad makes the first defense on the IBF featherweight title against Kiko Martinez in Sheffield on Saturday, having beaten Jazza Dickens for the vacant belt in August.

He lost a disputed decision to Warrington for the same title in 2019, but Warrington gave up the belt when the IBF ordered him to face Galahad earlier this year and ended up losing to Mauricio Lara, with the rematch ending in a technical draw after a clash of heads.

"Why kick a man when he is down?" Galahad said.

“It would be like knocking a guy down in a fight and hitting him while he’s on the floor. There is no need, it is unnecessary. Josh got the decision against me, I believe I won the fight and he knows I should have won the fight and that is all that matters.

“Hopefully, somewhere down the line, we get that fight on again but both my eyes are on Kiko for now.”

Galahad said he will be pushing for a stoppage against Martinez - the former IBF super-bantamweight champion - and not leave things to the scorecards.

“The Warrington fight made me realize I cannot leave anything down to the judges anymore, I have to take it out of their hands," he said.

“I am not saying they were bent, if two of them thought he won it then fine. It just made me realize I have to always make sure my opponent doesn’t hear the final bell.

“The name of the game is to hit and not get hit, you shouldn’t take risks when you don’t need to but I am at a point where I am making sure I beat guys in a clear fashion. I am no longer giving the judges the chance to give a close round to my opponents.”

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.