THE legacy Lee Selby leaves when his boxing career comes to an end is definitely going to warrant the erection of a statue in his honour, says trainer Tony Borg.

St Joseph’s flagbearer Selby has held Welsh, Celtic, Commonwealth, British, WBC international, European and IBF world featherweight titles over the last decade in the sport.

He can defend his IBF crown for a fifth time with victory against unbeaten mandatory challenger Josh Warrington at Elland Road in Leeds tonight.

Should he come through the contest unscathed then there could be much bigger prizes on offer, including a potential unification fight in the not too distant future.

But Borg feels the 31-year-old from Barry has already done more than enough to deserve a permanent tribute to his achievements in the ring.

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they built a statue of Lee,” he said.

“Look what’s he’s done for Welsh boxing, and boxing in Newport and Barry in particular, so why not?

“He hasn’t just done it in his backyard, he’s gone abroad and fought in Arizona and done everything asked of him, over and over again.”

There are currently only a handful of statues of boxers around Wales.

Merthyr Tydfil has three – Howard Winstone, Eddie Thomas and Johnny Owen – while there is one of Jim Driscoll in Cardiff.

Hopes are high that a statue of former British and Welsh heavyweight champion David Pearce will be erected in Newport soon.

Borg is glad to see the man known as ‘Bomber’ being recognised in his hometown, and reckons more local boxers, and sportspeople in general, need to be acknowledged for what they have done.

“I’m glad they’ve done it for David Pearce, it’s a really nice thing for his family,” he added.

“But if they’re going to build a statue for a boxer in Newport because he won the British title then where are we going to put the others?

“Andrew Selby has won the British title, Ashley Brace and Craig Evans have won European titles, and Lee Selby has won British, Commonwealth, European and world titles, so where do we stop?

“If we went along the lines of all the ones winning British titles, we would have quite a lot of statues around Newport today.

"In Wales you look at the London fighters, if you're in London you look at the American fighters, we don't realise what talent we have on our doorstep."

Meanwhile, back to tonight, and Borg is relishing the prospect of what lies in store for Selby providing he gets the win in Yorkshire.

He said: “After this there’s a possible unification, a fight with Carl Frampton in Belfast, or one in the States with Leo Santa Cruz.

“There are some big fights out there at featherweight and Lee wants to clean up and earn good money.”