Mauricio Lara went on the road again in England, this time rallying to stop Leigh Wood in the seventh round and win the WBA featherweight title, his first world title.
The stoppage came at 2:54 of round seven, after Wood — who was clearly and well ahead in the fight, leading 59-55 on all three official cards — was dropped on a clean, thudding left hook from Lara. Wood did get up, and referee Michael Alexander seemed set to give him a chance to finish the round, but trainer Ben Davison threw the towel for the TKO.
As far as the scoring, we also had it 59-55 on our unofficial card, and it just wasn’t a hard fight to score, honestly. Wood won the first round, Lara won the second, and then Wood was winning the fight, consistently landing sharp right hands and left hooks, doing some good body work, mostly keeping the fight where and how he wanted it, and just out-boxing Lara.
But Wood (26-3, 16 KO) also kept making little defensive mistakes that made Lara continually dangerous even beyond the fact that Lara (26-2-1, 19 KO) hits really hard, and one of them caught up with him. The shot Lara finished with here would have put down anyone in the featherweight division, and it’s a deserved win, even if you might quibble with the stoppage, and Wood certainly wasn’t happy with it.
“To become world champion is a dream I’ve had since I was eight years of age. Leigh Wood is a great champion,” Lara said. “He hits really hard, he’s an intelligent boxer, but I’m just absolutely delighted tonight.”
Asked about his desired third fight with Josh Warrington, Lara replied, “Of course, I’d like that trilogy. I want to go on and get more belts, as well. It’s really up to Eddie Hearn to make that decision.”
“I’m a fighter, you know. I want to go until I can’t see anymore. Congratulations to Mauricio Lara. He’s a great fighter, I made a mistake and I paid for it,” Wood said, then confirmed that he’d “absolutely” want a rematch.
Promoter Eddie Hearn said there was a rematch clause in the contract, which is pretty standard for world title fights anymore.