Leigh Wood did her job by creating weights. 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 knocking him out and winning by a unanimous decision. on Saturday night in Manchester, England.
The official scores are 118-109, 118-109 and 116-111. Boxing Junkie also scored 118-109, 10 rounds into two.
Wood (27-3, 16 KOs) also boxed well in the first game against Lara, leading all three points after six innings. Then disaster struck: A left hook from a tough challenger brought the seventh inning to a halt.
The Nottingham boxer insisted on an immediate rematch, which turned out to be a smart move.
Lara (26-3-1, 19 KOs) delivered a drama on Friday, when he couldn’t put on more than 3 pounds and lost his belt on the scale.
The fact that Wood agreed to join the fight even though Lara was essentially a junior lightweight athlete shows the confidence he will eventually fight.
Perhaps Lara’s unsuccessful weight-gain efforts have exhausted him, which could explain Saturday’s listless performance. Maybe Wood is just the better fighter. Or maybe both factors are at play.
Wood put on a stellar performance, beating the former champion from the start and never giving up.
The British player’s best moment came in the second round, when he knocked Lara down with a right butt. However, the knockdown plays a minor role in one-way scoring.
According to CompuBox, Wood beats Lara in every 12 rounds.
Lara had some positive moments, hitting shots here and there, but he was never consistently effective. In the end, he was disqualified.
