Friday, March 29, 2024  |

News

Aficianado

Leigh Wood outclasses Mauricio Lara in rematch, regains WBA featherweight title

Leigh Wood was in command throughout his rematch with Mauricio Lara. Photo / @DAZNBoxing
Fighters Network
27
May

Leigh Wood regained his WBA featherweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Mauricio Lara on Saturday at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. The rematch was streamed live on DAZN.

Wood, The Ring’s No. 7-ranked featherweight, was stopped in seven rounds by Lara three months ago. He opted to exercise his rematch clause, which some wondered if it was too soon.

At the weigh in, Lara, who entered the contest as The Ring’s No. 1-ranked featherweight, missed the featherweight limit by 3¾-pounds and was stripped of the WBA title.

Lara looked listless and lethargic and paid an early price when he was dropped in Round 2. The two clashed heads in round three which resulted in Wood being cut.

The Mexican was continually beaten to the punch and lacked his usual all-action aggressive style and snap on his punches.

Wood easily picked him off with the jab. The Brit didn’t need to do anything different and stayed disciplined throughout.

At the conclusion Wood was rightly awarded a wide decision on the scorecards 118-109 (twice) and 116-111.

The 34-year-old moves his record to 27-3 (16 knockouts), while Lara dips to 26-3-1 (19 KOs).

On the undercard, Jack Catterall snapped a 15-month hiatus with a dominant 10-round unanimous decision over Darragh Foley.

The last time we saw Catterall, he controversially lost to then-undisputed junior welterweight champion Josh Taylor last February.

Catterall, The Ring’s No. 4-rated junior welterweight, knocked off any ring rust to dominate rough Foley to claim a 10-round unanimous decision. Catterall was awarded the decision 99-88, 98-89 97-90.

The 29-year-old Chorley-based fighter used his classy southpaw skills to take the early rounds. Foley kept going and showed resilience but was never able to trouble Catterall.

Catterall moved through the levels and move from a combination of body punchers upstairs and uncorked a terrific left cross early in Round 9 to drop the Australian based Foley. Catterall looked to become the first man to stop Foley but was unable to get the stoppage.

The Brit looked impressive and can now zero in on a much deserved second world title opportunity. Catterall moved to 27-1 (13 KOs), while Foley drops to 22-5-1 (10 KOs).

 

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected] and you can follow him on

Twitter@AnsonWainwright

SIGN UP TO GET RING NEWS ALERTS