Leigh Wood did his job by making weight. Then he did his job in the ring.
Wood, who lost his 126-pound title to Maurico Lara by knockout in February, turned the tables on the Mexican by putting him down and winning a unanimous decision Saturday night in Manchester, England.
The official scores were 118-109, 118-109 and 116-111. Boxing Junkie also scored it 118-109, 10 rounds to two.
Wood (27-3, 16 KOs) also boxed well in the first fight with Lara, leading on all three scorecards after six rounds. Then disaster struck: A left hook from the hard-punching challenger led to a seventh-round stoppage.
The Nottingham fighter insisted upon an immediate rematch, which turned out to be a smart move.
Lara (26-3-1, 19 KOs) provided drama on Friday, when he failed to make weight by 3-plus pounds and lost his belt on the scale.
The fact that Wood agreed to go through with the fight even though Lara was essentially a junior lightweight was indicative of the confidence with which he would ultimately fight.
Perhaps Lara’s failed efforts to make weight left him drained, which might explain a listless performance on Saturday. Maybe Wood is just the better fighter. Or maybe both factors were at work.
Wood gave an outstanding performance, outboxing and outworking the former champion from the outset and never letting up.
The Englishman’s best moment came in the second round, when he dropped Lara with a right uppercut. However, the knockdown played an insignificant role in the one-sided scoring.
Wood outlanded Lara in each of the 12 rounds, according to CompuBox.
Lara had some positive moments, landing clean shots here and there, but he was never consistently effective. In the end, he was outclassed.
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