Leigh Wood made a return inside the ring in less than just four months to challenge Mauricio Lara for the WBA featherweight title in a highly anticipated rematch that took place in Manchester, England. The British boxer bounced back from his knockout loss and made an incredible turnaround as he won the fight via unanimous decision.
Leigh Wood drops Mauricio Lara with a lead right uppercut in RD2 đŽ #LaraWood2 | #Boxingpic.twitter.com/z5bc9T3pur
— RINGOFHIGHLIGHTS (@ringofhighlight) May 27, 2023
Ahead of the fight, Lara failed to make weight and as a result, the association stripped him of the title. Consequently, only Wood could win the vacant belt and he did that in dominating fashion as he dropped Mauricio in the second round. Thereafter he outclassed the Mexican boxer and avenged his loss and regained the title. With this win, Leigh Wood settled the score and did not disappoint his home fans.
What happened in the first fight between Leigh Wood and Mauricio Lara?
Leigh Wood put his WBA featherweight title on the line earlier this year in February against Mauricio Lara in a twelve-round bout. This title fight took place at the AO Arena in Wood’s hometown Nottingham. Speaking about this matchup, the British boxer was dominating Lara and the two fighters exchanged some wild shots.
However, Wood suffered a cut to his eye due to an accidental clash of heads in the second round. This caused him some problems in the latter rounds. Although it looked like Leigh Wood will cruise through a decision win as he was getting the better of the 24-year-old in striking exchanges. However, in the seventh round, Mauricio landed a brutal left hook out of nowhere to drop the Brit.
Leigh Wood beat the referee’s ten counts and was about to continue fighting. But the British champion’s corner decided to throw the towel and as a result, the referee stopped the fight. It proved to be a highly controversial decision and Leigh wasn’t happy with his coaches.
Taking a look at Leigh Wood’s glorious career
Leigh Wood made his professional boxing debut in 2011 and in his 12-year-long illustrious career, the British featherweight has amassed a record of 27-3. Out of those 27 wins, he has knocked out 16 of his opponents. This goes to show that Leigh-thal is a very dangerous fighter.
Hence it is needless to say that the 34-year-old will go down as a featherweight great once he hangs up his boots because he has defeated tough opponents like Mauricio Lara, Michael Conlan, James Dickens, Can Xu, and many others.
