Xu Can vs Leigh Wood – Results & Post-Fight Report

Leigh Wood kicked off the new era of DAZN, and the first week of Fight Camp, as he sensationally became the new WBA featherweight champion, with a thrilling last round stoppage of Can Xu at Matchroom HQ in Brentwood, Essex.

The card was left without its original headliner with just days to spare, as Conor Benn tested positive for COVID ahead of his scheduled welterweight contest with Adrian Granados, but thankfully, there was still world title action on offer.

Wood had come into the fight with Can on the back of a ninth round stoppage of Reece Mould to win the vacant British title, while Xu had made two defences of the belt he had won back in January 2019 against Jesus Rojas.

Nottinghamshire based Wood came into this assignment as a firm underdog, and on six weeks’ notice, but he belied his lack of world level experience to turn in a near punch-perfect performance to become world champion. Wood began the contest off a crisp jab, which kept China’s Xu at bay, and he also controlled the action in round two, not letting his opponent settle. Xu came to life in the third as he let his hands fly, but Wood wrestled back control quickly, with his accurate punching causing the champion all sorts of problems.

The middle rounds were nip and tuck, as Xu’s volume of punches were being counteracted by the precision of Wood, a heavy uppercut that bloodied Can’s nose from Wood in the sixth was a particular highlight. Xu was very much in the fight, but Wood took the play away from him down the stretch, dominating the penultimate round especially, and going into the final frame, it looked like the Gedling man’s fight to lose. ‘Leigh-thal’ left the argument out of the judges hands, as a jolting counter right hand floored Xu in the last minute of the round. The champion beat the count, but Wood wouldn’t be denied, and a volley of punches forced referee Marcus McDonnell to step in.

“I want the biggest fights possible” said a jubilant Wood post-fight.

“I want to test myself. I said last year that there’s three things that I want to do, and that’s win the British title, win the world title, and those boxes are ticked. The only thing left to do is to be the first person to headline at the City Ground (Home of Nottingham Forest FC)”

Chief support came at cruiserweight, and it was Chris Billam-Smith that walked away as the new British and European champion, adding the belts to his Commonwealth crown, with a split decision win over domestic rival, Tommy McCarthy, who entered the contest as defending European champion. The fight was a war of attrition, with McCarthy wobbling Billam-Smith with an overhand right hand in the very first round, but the rest of the fight was a give and take affair, with both having their successes.

In the end, it was down to the judges, and scores of 116-112 and 115-114 in Billam-Smith’s favour, trumped a 115-114 verdict for McCarthy as the Bournemouth man took home all three straps.

Anthony Fowler celebrated becoming a father this week with a hard earned eighth round stoppage win over the battered and bloodied late notice replacement, Rico Mueller. and moved closer to a potential meeting with his fellow Liverpudlian, Liam Smith. The German stepped in for Roberto Garcia, and he had his successes early on, before ‘The Machine’ took over, and by round eight, Mueller was target practice, and a series of unanswered punches forced the referee to intervene.

Kicking off the main DAZN portion of the card was Jack Cullen, and ‘Little Lever’s Meat Cleaver’ took a notable scalp as he defeated Avni Yildirim over ten rounds to claim the vacant IBF International super middleweight title. Yildirim was coming off a loss to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, so this was a marked step up in class for Cullen, but he handled the occasion brilliantly, and took the win by scores of 100-90, 98-92 and 97-93.

Campbell Hatton made it three wins from three as a professional, as he took all four rounds in his lightweight encounter with Poland’s Jakub Laskowski.

Sandy Ryan turned professional on the bill, and the precocious super lightweight talent from Derby enjoyed a shutout win over six rounds on her debut against Kirstie Bavington.