LEE Selby has admitted Saturday night’s split decision defeat to Josh Warrington was “one fight too many” for him as a featherweight.

The Welshman saw his three-year reign as IBF world champion ended by the Yorkshireman at Leeds United’s Elland Road home.

One judge scored the contest in favour of St Joseph’s star Selby but the other two rightly gave it to the mandatory challenger, who could go on to face Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton later this year.

Selby didn’t speak to the media after what was only his second loss in a 28-fight career stretching back nearly a decade.

But in a post on Twitter this morning, the 31-year-old stated that his time at 126lbs is over, with Selby now focused on becoming a two-weight world champion.

“I would like to thank everyone for all their support this week,” he said.

“I was Britain’s longest reigning world champion but it came at a price and I felt that in the ring last night.

“I’ve been making the featherweight limit for 10 years but it was just one fight too many at that weight and my performance badly reflected that.

“Congratulations to Josh Warrington and I wish him the best in the future.

“I will enjoy the summer with my family and then sit down with my team to plan the exciting new challenge of becoming a two-weight world champion.”

Frampton, working as a ringside pundit for television and radio, felt the Selby camp underestimated Warrington, who rose to the challenge on a special night in his home city.

There had been some bad blood between the two fighters in the build-up to the clash, with Warrington insisting it was his destiny to become Leeds’ first ever world champion.

And the 27-year-old did what he promised, getting the better of Selby from the off to surge into a lead that the Barry ace never recovered from.

Selby’s cause certainly wasn’t helped by accidental head clashes in rounds two and six that left him with nasty cuts over both eyes.

His issues with making the weight seemed to affect Selby and he didn’t look his usual silky self in the ring, although he wasn’t allowed to as Warrington landed plenty of telling shots.

Knowing he needed a stoppage to save his title from slipping away, Selby tried to mount a late attack but his rival wouldn’t be denied.

"Elland Road, the Kaiser Chiefs playing me in, that was the stuff dreams are made of," said Warrington, who now has 27 wins from as many fights.

"I can't put it into words. What an occasion, what a night. I could die a happy man. How do you top that?

"I've just outfoxed and outboxed a brilliant champion in Lee Selby.”

Selby's trainer Tony Borg confirmed after the fight that his charge had actually suffered three cuts which affected his vision during the bout.