Josh Warrington admitted his frustration after squeaking out an unsatisfactory split decision win over Kid Galahad to retain his IBF featherweight title in Leeds.

The home favourite had to dig deep to keep hold of his title in a fight far removed from his previous all-action title clashes with Lee Selby and Carl Frampton.

Warrington admitted: “I think there was a lot of expectation after my last two performances, but they’re not all going to be fights of the year.

“Everyone builds it up like it’s going to be a war but I knew he was going to come with that typical Sheffield style.

“There were times when he was holding and grabbing the back of my head. You’ve got to come into a champion’s backyard and take it off him, and that didn’t happen.”

Warrington said he was eager to put a difficult night behind him and look abroad to secure major unification fights in the months ahead.

He added: “There’s no-one left for me to fight over here. I’ve moved very quickly to the top of the tree and it’s the big fights I need here.

“I don’t want to be coming back here and defending the title against some bloke who works at the car-wash on the York Road.

“If I can get my own way, I’d like to go to America for the memories and the experience.”

Galahad refused to be too down-hearted in defeat, insisting: “It is what it is. Josh was strong and he won it and that’s all that matters.”