Mauricio Lara vs Leigh Wood 2 – Results & Post-Fight Report

Leigh Wood gained sweet revenge against Mauricio Lara in their rematch at the Manchester Arena, as he became the WBA featherweight title for the second time with a wide points win.

Wood became WBA champion in July 2021, stopping Can Xu in the final round, and he defended with another last round win against Michael Conlan. He then met Lara in February, and after making a decent start, he was flattened in seven by the dangerous Mexican, who had already upset Josh Warrington in September 2021.

The title was on the line for Wood only, as Lara failed to make weight, and was stripped of his belt.

After an even first frame, a short right uppercut scored a knockdown for Wood (27-3, KO16) in the second round. The visitor responded well with a strong third, but Wood was boxing well, one step ahead in both rounds four and five before enjoying a strong sixth with movement and speed. Wood was frustrating Lara (26-3-1, KO19), and a safety first approach was banking the Nottingham man round after round, and going into the championship rounds, it looked a case of Wood staying to of trouble to regain his crown. That proved to be the case, and Lara couldn’t get close to turning the contest around in what was a lacklustre performance from ‘Bronco’ as the fight went to the cards.

Two scores of 118-109, and a third at 116-111 ensured Wood regained his title.

Jack Catterall (27-1, KO13) made a Matchroom debut, and returned after losing a contentious decision to Josh Taylor last year by widely outscoring Darragh Foley (22-5-1, KO10) to take the vacant WBA Intercontinental super lightweight title. Caterall dropped the Irishman in the seventh, but was docked a point for hitting his opponent while he was down, and another knockdown in the ninth sealed the win, as the Chorley man came through by scores of 99-88, 98-89 and 97-90.

Terri Harper (14-1-1, KO6) shrugged off the frustration of her contest with Cecilia Braekhus in Dublin being cancelled at the last minute last week, and she defended her WBA super welterweight contest for the first time, by clearly outscoring Ivana Habazin (21-5, KO7). Two scores of 97-93, and a third at 98-92 sealed the win for the Doncaster native.

Aqib Fiaz (12-0, KO1) survived a gut check, as he was dropped in the sixth round of eight against Costin Ion (10-4-2, KO5) before taking a one point win at super featherweight. Fiaz was judged a 76-75 winner.

The vacant English welterweight title was claimed by Danny Ball (13-1-1, KO6) as he dropped Jamie Robinson (15-6-2, KO4) in the second round, before forcing him to retire after the eighth frame.

William Crolla (1-0, KO1) made his pro debut, and the brother of former world champion Anthony had to get off the floor in round three, before taking a 39-37 decision win over four at middleweight over Joe Hardy (2-10, KO0).

Campbell Hatton (12-0, KO5) is moulding into a spiteful puncher like his dad Ricky, and ‘The Hurricane’ took a fifth round stoppage win at super lightweight against Michal Bulik (6-3, KO2).

Aaron Bowen (2-0, KO1) went the distance for the first time, and the Coventry middleweight took a 59-55 verdict against Aljaz Venko (5-4-1, KO2).