Mauricio Lara lost his 126-pound title on the scale but will still face Leigh Wood on Saturday in a rematch of their February bout, which Lara won by KO. Wood would claim the vacant belt with a victory.
MAURICIO LARA (26-2-1, 19 KOS)
VS. LEIGH WOOD (26-3, 16 KOS)
- When: Saturday, May 27
- Time: 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT (main event later in show)
- Where: AO Arena, Manchester, England
- TV/Stream: DAZN
- Division: Featherweight (126-pound limit)
- At stake: Vacant WBA title (at stake only for Wood)
- Pound-for-pound ranking: None
- Odds: Lara 2½-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Also on the card: Melvin Jerusalem vs. Oscar Collazo, strawweights (for Jerusalem’s WBO title); Oscar Duarte vs. D’Angelo Keyes, lightweights; John Ramirez vs. Fernando Diaz, junior bantamweights
- Prediction: Lara KO 5
- Background: Lara lost his WBA title on the scale, coming in 3½ pounds overweight. The 25-year-old Mexican has become a Brit killer. He knocked out Josh Warrington in 2021 in London to burst upon the boxing scene, after which the two fought to technical draw when Lara suffered a bad cut. That led to a shot at Wood’s title in February, when Lara stopped Wood with a monstrous left hook in the seventh round of a fight the loser was winning on the cards. Wood gets a second chance on Saturday. The 34-year-old from Nottingham delivered the performance of his career in March of last year, putting Michael Conlan through the ropes for a spectacular 12th-round knockout in defense of his belt. And he did well against Lara even though he was cut in the opening round. However, a left hook to Wood’s chin put him down and hurt him badly. He was able to get up on unsteady legs but his trainer threw in the towel.
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