One thing England fans learned when Mauricio Lara let Josh Warrington down in 2021 is that the Mexican only knows one way to fight: moving forward.
And that’s okay with featherweight champion Leigh Wood, who will defend her belt against Lara on Saturday in her hometown of Nottingham. Wood, walk out of his sensational finals knockout Michael Conlan in Fight of the Year, said he would be happy to beat Lara at his own game.
He is predicting an early night for the challenger.
“He doesn’t have to come looking for me, I’ll be right in front of him,” Wood said Tuesday. “I will meet him in the middle of the ring. When he enters the ring, he will meet a very hostile crowd.
“No one is going to walk into Nottingham and walk past me. It won’t happen. I can’t see it halfway through, and I’ll win by knockout.”
Wood (26-2, 16 KOs) and Lara (25-2-1, 18 KOs) were supposed to meet last September but Wood suffered a biceps injury and had to postpone it.
Lara is said to have implied that Wood was just trying to get out of the fight and suggested that his impressive win over Warrington – a knockout in the ninth round – made him a fool. island in england
That only made Wood more determined to finish the fight. And it motivates him.
“There will never be another war,” he said. “The next one is always Mauricio Lara. He said a few things that made it quite personal. He said I faked my wound and he said all the British were running away in fear.”
Wood has to admit that Lara looks great in Warrington War, taking place in London. The Leeds boxer was undefeated and was a rising star at the time. And in the end, Lara hit him. Their rematch ended in a technical draw when Lara was cut.
At the same time, Wood said Lara has flaws that he intends to exploit.
“From the outside, he looks very dangerous,” he said. “He took a destructive win over Josh Warrington. There are many things he does well and he is dangerous, but at the same time there are many things he does very poorly.
“You can’t get away with that at this level with the right fighter.”
And, again, Wood will also have his secret weapon: crowds.
“The people on the ground have really supported me in the past few battles,” he said. “It will be a special atmosphere in this match. It will be even better. Last time (for the fight with Conlan) it was split between the Nottingham lot and the Irish.
“This time it will be mainly Nottingham fans. They will sing and make a lot of noise. It will be raised.
