Leigh Wood suffered his third career loss – and his second by stoppage – to new WBA Featherweight world champion Mauricio Lara who made good on his promise to end his victory with a sublime finish. In a decision that is considered slightly controversial, Wood’s trainer, Ben Davison, threw in the towel in the seventh round after believing Wood accrued too much damage following a knockdown. The title match was held on February 18, at the Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, the same region Wood grew up and was born in. The official scorecards of 59-55 and 58-56 twice, put Wood ahead of Lara on the cards prior to his stoppage loss.
The two fighters used contrasting styles, with Leigh Wood (26-3, 16 KO’s) more comfortable at fighting technically at range, while Mauricio Lara (26-2-1, 19 KO’s) showed no sign of buckling from his ‘Mexican style’ of fighting which is synonymous with an all-out aggressive style that sacrifices many defensive fundamentals in favor of an effective offensive approach.
Both boxers came into the fight with two losses and plenty of experience under their belt, making for an exciting fight with each round being pivotal to win. The two seemed relatively evening throughout the totality of the seven rounds fought; Wood was, as predicted, technical, slick and quick on his feet as he properly counterattacked while staying out of each from Lara’s dangerous hooks.
Lara was no less dangerous. Used to fighting on the inside, Lara’s pressure never relented throughout the rounds and despite a large amount of missed shots, Wood seemed to be in constant danger. Inside the pocket, Wood showed the most vulnerability as he found himself outmatched by Lara’s power, and most of his success came by fighting at range.
By the seventh round, one might have seen Lara get ahead as his rate of success at cutting off the ring seemed to increase, but it seemed the judges liked Wood’s approach and style more as he was considered to be ahead on the cards. He rendered many of Lara’s attacks ineffective as he slipped, parried and blocked while peppering Lara with his counters, and especially his jabs, and seemed to have found ways of dealing with the Mexican’s power prior to his stoppage loss.
The last thirty seconds of the seventh round featured Lara finally breaking through Wood’s well-cultivated defense and hitting him with a devastating left hand that dropped Leigh Wood. Controversy ensued thereafter when Wood beat the count after the knockdown, and with just 12 seconds left on the clock, Wood’s trainer Ben Davison suddenly threw in the towel which forced the referee to stopped the match. The bout was thereafter ruled in favor of Mauricio Lara by technical knockout.
Aside from just the result, there was no shortage of post-match controversy as Mauricio Lara briefly engaged in a spitting debacle with former British opponent, Josh Warrington, who was ringside at the match and worked as a co-commentator during the bout. Lara would later confirm he spat on Warrington, citing the beef they had stemming from their two fights where Warrington was accused of intentionally and illegally headbutting him – amongst other things.
More of the controversy centered around Ben Davison’s decision. With barely ten seconds left on the clock and Wood having gone on to win a previous match with Michael Conlan (18-1, 9 KO’s) after suffering a knockdown, boxing critics heavily questioned the decision by Wood’s trainer but Wood himself has recently stated he agreed with Davison’s decision.
With his victory, Mauricio Lara not only became the WBA world Featherweight champion, but also became the third Mexican to become champion in the Featherweight division. The weight class now sees a total of three Mexicans as champions with WBC champion Rey Vargas (36-1, 22 KO’s) and IBF champion Luis Lopez (27-2, 15 KO’s) both holding their respective world titles. The division would have seen all four major titles held by Mexicans if former WBO champion, Emmanuel Navarrete (37-1, 31 KO’s), had not moved up to Super Featherweight recently to win the WBO world title against Liam Wilson (11-2, 7 KO’s) approximately two weeks ago.
The now-vacated WBO Featherweight title will be fought over by former WBO Junior Featherweight champion, Ghanaian-British Isaac Dogboe (24-2, 15 KO’s), and the highly-regarded Cuban contender Robeisy Ramirez (11-1, 7 KO’s) who is considered one of the best fighters in the division. Dogboe is best known for his two matches with Navarrete, both of which he lost with the first culminating in him losing his WBO title which allowed Navarrete to reign as champion for nearly five years, while their rematch resulted in Dogboe being stopped in the last round.
Lara has already stated his intention to fight Josh Warrington to once and for all settle their beef, but has expressed more interest in unifying his titles with either of the two champions – or future incumbent WBO champion – in the near future. With Lara having won his first world title in his first ever world title bout, he will be looking for further challenges given his youth – at 26-years of age – and recent accomplishment to further embellish his history as a fighter.
