Featherweight beltholder Leigh Wood, coming off his sensational KO of Michael Conlan, will defend against Maurico Lara on Saturday in England.
LEIGH WOOD (26-2, 16 KOS)
VS. MAURICIO LARA (25-2-1, 18 KOS)
- Date: Saturday, Feb. 18
- Time: 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT (7 p.m. U.K. time) (main event later in show)
- Where: Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, England
- TV/Stream: DAZN
- Division: Featherweights (126 pounds)
- At stake: Wood’s WBA title
- Pound-for-pound ranking: None
- Odds: Wood 2-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Also on the card: Dalton Smith vs. Billy Allington, junior welterweights; Gary Cully vs. Wilfredo Flores, lightweights; Cheavon Clarke vs. Dec Spelman, cruiserweights; Gamal Yafai vs. Diego Alberto Ruiz, junior featherweights
- Prediction: Lara KO 9
- Background: One of the hottest fighters from the U.K. will face a Mexican brawler who has a history of spoiling the plans of Britons. Wood is coming off the 2022 Fight of the Year, in which he got up from a first round knockdown to knock challenger Michael Conlan through the ropes and out in the final round last March. The boxer-puncher, who will be fighting in his hometown, has won three consecutive fights since he lost a majority decision to James Dickens in 2020. That includes a 12th-round stoppage of Can Xu to win his belt in 2021. Lara, a 24-year-old from Mexico City, stunned U.K. fans when he knocked out then-unbeaten and rising star Josh Warrington in the ninth round in London in 2021. The rematch later that year ended in a two-round technical draw after Lara suffered a cut and couldn’t continue. Lara then knocked out both Emilio Sanchez and Jose Sammartin in three rounds to earn another shot at a top British fighter.
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