Wood vs Lara: Big Fight Preview & Prediction

Wood vs Lara: Big Fight Preview & Prediction

I was ringside in 2019 when Leigh Wood defended his Commonwealth featherweight title by stopping Ryan Doyle in his home city of Nottingham. Despite retaining his title with little drama, the whispers from ringside were that Wood would never be a star. They said he just lacked that little bit of something you need to remove yourself from the ordinary.

But those whispers are now gone. Wood has since won the WBA world featherweight title, and defended it in a brutal, savage fight against Michael Conlan that until the final few seconds, he never remotely looked like winning. In that fight last March in Nottingham, Wood survived a nightmare start, where he looked on the brink of defeat several times to sensationally stop Conlan in the 12th and final round. There were deeply disturbing scenes at the end, and you feared the worst for Conlan. Thankfully, Conlan was fine the next day, allowing us to remember the fight for what it was. But it was one of those fights that both fighters left a piece of themselves in that Nottingham ring. For Wood, at 34, it could be the last great performance his body allows. Will he be the same again? Can he be? Against the big-punching Mexican Mauricio Lara on Saturday night, he might need to show even more resilience than the last time he graced a ring in his home city.

Lara (25-2-1) came to prominence the night he stopped Josh Warrington behind closed doors in 2021. Lara was the supposed no-hoper to safely reintroduce Warrington back into the Matchroom family. But the fight, like much of his career since he left Frank Warren to align himself once again with Eddie Hearn, was an unmitigated disaster. Warrington made his excuses for the shock defeat to Lara, but the rematch ended inconclusively, and they went their separate ways. At least for now. But Warrington despite only recording one victory in four fights since 2019, will be the fighter in waiting. For many reasons, he will be if it is Lara who emerges the winner in the Nottingham Arena. If Lara wins, the inevitable rematch will delay Warrington perhaps his final opportunity on the world stage. And even when that is out of the way and if Lara is still the last man standing, the Mexican looks to be all wrong for the Leeds fighter at this stage of his career. Warrington may even decide to go elsewhere.

But Lara has to get past Wood before any talk of rematch clauses and trilogy fights, which as Conlan found, won’t be an easy task. After a couple of early setbacks, Lara has rebuilt his career and hasn’t lost since 2018. Lara literally could be anything. Many will argue he got lucky against Warrington. But I’m not one of those naysayers. While Warrington is almost certainly on the decline, Lara had the look of a fighter who will at some point in his career win a world title. Nothing we have seen since that night he shocked Warrington, has led me to think otherwise.

Conlan is a far more technical fighter than Lara ever will be, and while the challenger may not hit Wood as often as Conlan did last year, he may not have to. Wood was in all sorts of trouble in those early rounds last March, in similar circumstances against Lara, he is unlikely to survive. For the current WBA champion, there will be a sense of imminent danger in his latest defence of that precious WBA bauble, especially in the early rounds where the danger levels will be at their highest. Lara has the power in his fists to end the fight at any moment. Every exchange could be the final one. It really is that kind of fight.

Wood (26-2) hasn’t fought since that incredible fight with Conlan, injury curtailed the originally intended date with Lara late last year, and the extra long rest will have allowed Wood extra time for his body to recover from that incredibly ageing fight against Conlan. I believe his chances of victory on Saturday night have increased significantly because of that delay.

Wood will not let anyone down, and he may well be inspired by his vocal faithful, but Lara might just have too much power for him at this stage of his career. At 24, Lara is ten years younger, and his freshness could be key to how his night ends. It will be fought in a seething red-hot atmosphere, and that could work for or against Wood. If the champion gets caught up in the emotions of the night, it might only take one mistake and one punch to bring his world crashing down.

I don’t see the judges being required to render their verdict. The fight is likely to be one of violence from the get-go, and I just can’t see it going the distance. At some point, either Wood or Lara will break. Wood isn’t the most difficult fighter to find, and that at some point will prove to be his downfall. But if Wood hasn’t been compromised too much by that fight with Conlan then he may take Lara to deep enough waters that the Mexican will drown in. Until Lara proves it on a stage like the one he will dance on Saturday night there will always be doubts about him. Is he too tight at the weight, if so, will that wane his stamina if the fight goes deep? Can Lara survive what Wood went through against Conlan? Will Wood be too seasoned for the raw and still unproven challenger? All those questions are likely to be answered on Saturday night.

It is one of those rare genuine 50/50 fights and one that you can legitimately make a case for either fighter. A win for Wood gives him that big stadium fight against Warrington at the home of his beloved Nottingham Forest. But boxing rarely does sentiment, and I have a feeling it will be that way again on Saturday night.

WOOD VS. LARA WEIGHTS AND RUNNING ORDER

ALL TIMES ARE LOCAL

16:00 DOORS OPEN

16:15 LIVE ON BEFORE THE BELL

6 x 3 mins Super-Lightweight contest
SAM MAXWELL 144lbs v SHAUN COOPER 143lbs
(Liverpool, England) (Willenhall, England)

followed by

8 x 3 mins International Super-Middleweight contest
KIERON CONWAY 168lbs v JORGE SILVA 167lbs
(Northampton, England) (Matosinhos, Portugal)

followed by

8 x 3 mins International Super-Welterweight contest
JUNAID BOSTAN 155lbs v PETER KRAMER 155lbs
(Rotherham, England) (Budapest, Hungary)

followed by

6 x 3 mins International Middleweight contest
AARON BOWEN 165lbs v MATHIEU GOMES 167lbs
(Coventry, England) (Saint-Etienne, France)

followed by

19:00 LIVE ON DAZN

10 x 3 mins International Super-Bantamweight contest
GAMAL YAFAI 124lbs v DIEGO ALBERTO RUIZ 123lbs
(Birmingham, England) (Las Talitas, Argentina)

followed by

10 x 3 mins International Cruiserweight contest
CHEAVON CLARKE 199lbs v ISRAEL DUFFUS 197lbs
(Gravesend, England) (San Miguelito, Panama)

followed by

10 x 3 mins WBA intercontinental Lightweight Title
GARY CULLY 134lbs v WILFREDO FLORES 134lbs
(Naas, Ireland) (Dunkirk, USA)

followed by

12 x 3 mins British Super-Lightweight Title
DALTON SMITH 139lbs v BILLY ALLINGTON 139lbs
(Sheffield, England) (Egham, England)

followed by

12 x 3 mins WBA Featherweight World Title
LEIGH WOOD 126lbs v MAURICIO LARA 126lbs
(Gedling, Nottingham, England) (Mexico City, Mexico)

Photo Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing