Leigh Wood says he’s going to “clean up the mess” that Josh Warrington created two years ago when he was stopped in the ninth round by Mauricio Lara in February 2021. In the rematch, Warrington head-butted Lara many times until the fight was halted after two rounds due to Mauricio suffering cuts.
The 34-year-old Wood needs to defeat Lara to set up a big money fight between him and Warrington at the 30,000-seat City Ground football stadium in Nottingham, England.
If Wood loses to Lara, a fight between him and Warrington won’t be as big because they will have both been beaten by the powerful Mexican slugger, and the match would resemble a loser’s bracket type of contest.
Wood (26-2, 16 KOs) will defend his WBA featherweight title against the visiting Lara (25-2-1, 18 KOs) this Saturday night February 18th, live on DAZN at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England.
It will be difficult for Wood to defeat Lara unless he chooses to try and neutralize his power by clinching or using the illegal straight-arm tactic that he repeatedly used to defeat Can Xu in 2021 to win his WBA 126-lb title.
“Hey, I’m going to clean up the mess you made with the Mexican,” Leigh Wood said to Matchroom Boxing in talking to Josh Taylor about his planning to defeat Mauricio Lara.
Wood’s weak punch resistance is going to make him vulnerable against Lara, and he’s probably going to have to forget about trying to score a knockout like he’s been talking about wanting to geet for this fight.
If Wood attempts to knockout Lara, he’s going to put himself in a position where he could get knocked out himself.
“I’m going to win against Lara. I’m not looking past it. I’m pumped to get the win, and then we’ll get it on,” said Wood. “I’m going to beat Mauricio Lara first. I’ve got to do his [Warrington] dirty work, and then we’ll get it on. The Mexican mess.”
“I want Leigh to do the business, so we can set up a fight here,” said Warrington. “Do do a big domestic fight. To come into a stadium away from Leeds will be absolutely fantastic. I also don’t want him to because I want to get the third against Lara. By the way, if we do get a fight here, what a fight it would be,” said Warrington.
