By: Sean Crose
Leigh Wood is once again the WBA world featherweight champion after defeating Mauricio Lara this weekend at the AO Arena in Manchester, England. Lara, who won the belt from Wood earlier this year, actually lost the title Friday on the scales. However, it was ordered that Wood must once again become the WBA champion, provided he beat Lara in the ring, which he did on Saturday.
Wood wisely kept his distance the first time, choosing to shoot from a distance. The challenger continued to deliver his jab in the second round while preventing the defending champion from effectively landing. Undoubtedly, Wood knocked Lara down in the last minute of the round with a one-of-a-kind combination. Lara stood up quickly, but it was a remarkable development. The third table saw Wood again intelligently keep his distance, while effectively executing his stab.
Lara found he couldn’t do anything particularly important in the fourth round, as Wood would take hold when the opportunity arose to bring the game to a close. Lopez was as aggressive in the fifth inning, clearly hoping to knock his men down as he did when he took down Wood in their first fight. This time, however, Wood seems prepared to face Lopez’s power through maintaining distance and timing his enemies’ punches.
With that said, Lopez had a solid shot in the first season of season six. Yet Wood was too wary of letting the defending champion land with such frequency. In the middle of the game, the game clearly belonged to Wood. Undoubtedly, Wood continued to box excellently into the seventh inning. Sometimes Lopez even had to step back.
Apparently in game eight Wood succeeded in turning the match into a chess match, which greatly increased his win rate. Lopez may have been desperate to find a suitable landing, but Wood stuck to his plan of hitting and not getting hit. Now in good control of the game, Wood made it past the ninth inning.
In season ten, Lopez looked stymied by the looks Lara would give, as well as his feints and head movements. Lopez then recklessly threw at the man he once defeated. He ended up slipping down the carpet at one point, which could have affected his wrists. Eleventh offers more of the same, which is exactly what Wood and his team wanted. Wood clearly devised a brilliant game plan, and he carried it through to the twelfth and final round.
Surely no one was surprised when Wood was awarded the decisive victory by the referee after the match ended.
