Leigh Wood is once again WBA featherweight champion, clearly and rather easily defeating a ragged Mauricio Lara today in Manchester.
Wood took the belt back on scores of 116-111, 118-109, and 118-109, and the latter two were more the general consensus than the 116-111 card.
Lara (26-3-1, 19 KO) missed weight this week, with the British Boxing Board of Control not even allowing him to try and crash down to 126 on Friday, after he blew a check-in weight earlier in the week.
That meant Lara was stripped of the WBA title on Friday, and only Wood (27-3, 16 KO) could leave Manchester with the belt, and he did just that.
Wood dropped Lara in round two and otherwise just dominated the fight, with Lara looking like he had basically nothing in the tank throughout. But that shouldn’t take away from Wood, either, who simply boxed his game plan and did so effectively, the same as he had for six rounds last time out, but this time without Lara having much return fire.
“I wasn’t losing no matter what. 10 lbs, whatever, I wasn’t losing tonight. Mauricio Lara is a great fighter, but I have a great team and knew what I had to do,” Wood said. “This is what I’m here for. I’m here for hard fights. I may get beat, but guess what? I’ll come back and beat them.”
“The body jab was a key to success, not just to keep distance, but to build off it. Massive thanks to my team, and they won as well.”
Wood’s fans from Nottingham were loud and proud in attendance in Manchester, and Wood now hopes to get his next fight at City Ground, the home of Nottingham Forest F.C.
“I think Josh Warrington makes sense, but a (Luis Alberto) Lopez unification is even bigger. I’ve only got two fights left. I want my happy ending.”
Lara vs Wood 2 highlights
Undercard highlights and results
- Jack Catterall UD-10 Darragh Foley (97-90, 98-89, 99-88)
- Terri Harper UD-10 Ivana Habazin (97-93, 97-93, 98-92)
- Aqib Fiaz PTS-8 Costin Ion (76-75)
- Danny Ball TKO-8 Jamie Robinson (3:00)