{"id":27482,"date":"2023-02-19T03:10:03","date_gmt":"2023-02-19T03:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/2023\/02\/19\/leigh-wood-v-mauricio-lara-briton-loses-world-title-with-stoppage-defeat-in-thrilling-fight\/"},"modified":"2023-02-19T03:10:03","modified_gmt":"2023-02-19T03:10:03","slug":"leigh-wood-v-mauricio-lara-briton-loses-world-title-with-stoppage-defeat-in-thrilling-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/?p=27482","title":{"rendered":"Leigh Wood v Mauricio Lara: Briton loses world title with stoppage defeat in thrilling fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Mauricio<\/span><\/span>
Mauricio Lara knocks down Leigh Wood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leigh Wood’s reign as WBA featherweight champion is over after the Briton lost in devastating fashion to hard-hitting Mauricio Lara in Nottingham. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The 34-year-old seemed to be in control of the fight and was landing with ease through rounds three to six, before Lara unleased a sensational left hook in the seventh. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Wood hit the canvas and bravely got back to his feet. <\/span><\/p>\n

But clearly hurt, his trainer Ben Davison threw in the towel. <\/span><\/p>\n

The defeat is Wood’s third in a 29-fight career, while Mexican Lara has won his maiden world title. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Congratulations to Mauricio Lara, he’s great fighter,” Wood told DAZN. “I made a mistake and paid for it.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Promoter Eddie Hearn said Wood now plans to exercise his rematch clause.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Firstly, well done to Leigh Wood for taking a fight like this – everyone knows how dangerous Mauricio Lara is,” Hearn said. <\/span><\/p>\n

“I thought Leigh was cruising that fight, won four rounds on the spin, but Mauricio Lara came with a left hook from the heavens.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Heartbreak for Wood in thriller <\/h3>\n
\"Leigh<\/span><\/span>
The loss is Wood’s third in a 29-fight career<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A fight widely expected to be a shootout between arguably two of the biggest punchers of the division did not disappoint. <\/span><\/p>\n

The atmosphere and volume moved up a notch as Wood made his entrance, with almost every fan in the arena on their feet. Lara – dressed in red and wearing a sombrero – was unfazed. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wood channelled that support in the opening round to connect with a looping left and straight right, but was cut above the left eye after an accidental clash of heads. <\/span><\/p>\n

The champion started strongly in the second, connecting to Lara’s body and following it up with an uppercut, but it seemed to spur Lara on and he launched a ferocious attack towards the end of the round. <\/span><\/p>\n

Relentless punching to the head and body had Wood – with blood dripping down the side of his face – wincing. <\/span><\/p>\n

But Wood recovered brilliantly to land a terrific straight right in the third, and followed it up with more single shots which pierced Lara’s guard. The fight was delivering on all expectations. <\/span><\/p>\n

With Lara’s unconventional style – punching from angles with a straight-on stance and leaving himself open – Leigh started to land more frequently in the fourth. <\/span><\/p>\n

Lara nodded and smiled after taking a body shot from Wood in the fifth – perhaps a sign he was hurt and which way this fight was heading. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wood got a real foothold in the sixth as a desperate Lara started to get more reckless and was missing wildly. <\/span><\/p>\n

Lara was going to be a danger at any time in the fight, however, and he stunned the East Midlands crowd with a fantastic short left hook to end Wood’s night. <\/span><\/p>\n

With Wood unsteady on his legs, Davison saved his fighter from any more damage. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mauricio<\/span><\/span>
Victory for Mexican Lara brought his maiden world title<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wood seeks rematch as Lara & Warrington clash ringside<\/h3>\n

With so much emphasis nowadays put on protecting an unbeaten record, Wood has bounced back from defeats before and should be applauded for taking on a feared puncher in Lara as a voluntary defence, when easier options were available. <\/span><\/p>\n

Although Wood is keen on the rematch, two-time world champion Josh Warrington was ringside and clashed with Lara post-fight. Warrington accused Lara of spitting at him, and was held back from entering the ring by security. <\/span><\/p>\n

Warrington suffered a shock first career defeat by Lara in February 2021, before their rematch seven months later was declared a technical draw after an accidental head clash in the second round. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Of course I would like that trilogy [with Josh Warrington],” said Lara. “I want as many belts as possible, but it’s up to Eddie Hearn to make that decision.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Wood himself was eyeing a lucrative all-British match-up against Warrington in a stadium fight at his beloved Nottingham Forest’s City Ground. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is still a slight chance that fight could happen, with Leeds fighter Warrington also coming off a defeat having <\/span>lost his IBF title<\/span><\/a> to Luis Alberto Lopez in December. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Listen<\/span><\/span>\"Listen<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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[ad_1] Mauricio Lara knocks down Leigh Wood Leigh Wood’s reign as WBA featherweight champion is over after the Briton lost in devastating fashion to hard-hitting Mauricio Lara in Nottingham. The … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}