Josh Warrington says Lee Selby isn't ready for unification fights

Josh Warrington watched Lee Selby outpoint Fernando Montiel - then warned his rival against stepping up to unification fights.

The IBF world featherweight champion moved to 22-1-KO8 with victory on his US debut in Arizona but failed to impress Leeds' Warrington (22-0-KO4), who has been chasing a bout with the Welshman. 

Warrington told Sky Sports: "He'll be a little bit disappointed with that. He'll come away thinking he could've done things a little bit better. He got caught a little bit too cleanly and never took real charge of the fight.

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.

"In the middle rounds, it looked like Montiel was coming back in to it and it was quite close at some points. He'll be disappointed but it was a massive learning fight for him.

"Lee's gone out there to impress. Has he tried too hard? Has he underestimated Montiel there? Lee looked fresher towards the end of rounds but like I say, it's a massive learning fight for him."

Selby is currently ranked below the likes of Nicholas Walters, Vasyl Lomachenko and Gary Russell Jr in the featherweight division and should not be in a rush to take them on, according to Warrington.

"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. It'd be nice for him to go to Wales for his fans and have another learning fight.

"Lee's probably sick of hearing my name now. I'm hot on his heels. I've said to Eddie Hearn and Steve Wood that I want a bit of a name now - ideally someone Selby hasn't boxed but who is on world level."