LONDON — British professional boxer Leigh Wood regained his WBA featherweight title with a unanimous decision over Mauricio Lara of Mexico in Manchester.
The fight was scored 118-109, 116-111, 118-109 in Wood’s favour after he turned in a disciplined performance to nullify the best of the threats Lara had to offer.
Lara boasted a four-pound advantage after dramatic weigh-in, when he failed to make the nine-stone limit and was stripped of his belt, with Wood opting to take the fight anyway.
The Nottingham fighter made the most of that decision as he had Lara on the canvas in only the second round with a right uppercut and stayed on the attack, despite Lara managing to open up a cut above his left eye in the fourth round.
Lara, behind on the cards, continued to target that eye but Wood kept dancing and was in control as Lara struggled to make anything pay.
Wood struck the Mexican with a powerful left hook which left him wobbling in the 11th and it was effectively beyond doubt by that point, with Wood jumping onto the ropes to celebrate even before the judges confirmed his victory.
Wood was the only fighter at AO Arena who could leave with the belt – had the Mexican won, the title would have been left vacant.
However, Wood never looked likely to give up the opportunity to reclaim the belt he first won in July 2021 as he made amends for the previous defeat to Lara, when he looked on top before being stopped in the seventh round.
Wood had clearly learned his lessons, putting on a much more defensively secure and technically assured performance.
Lara, meanwhile, looked to run out of ideas early on and despite a 4lbs weight advantage and facing an opponent who had gone through a weigh cut, he rarely troubled his opponent.
The tempo was set in round two, when a right uppercut instantly followed by a short left saw Wood knock his opponent to the canvas.
Lara got up quickly, but was now on the back foot and never recovered his composure as a partisan crowd roared on Nottingham-born Wood.
Wood continued to attack with big punches right and left, and not even a cut suffered near his left eye in round four could stop his flow.
That cut did become more of an issue and had to be tended to by his corner, however it was ruled to have been caused by an accidental clash of heads, so the fight would have been decided by scorecard if it resulted in a stoppage – and Wood always looked ahead.
The final six rounds saw Wood keep Lara at arm’s length, with stabs to the body causing the Mexican particular issues.
