11 February 2023 , 20:00
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Leigh Wood is the only British boxer in possession of a featherweight world crown.
Yet the 34-year-old knows that, in the eyes of most UK fight fans, he still plays second fiddle to Josh Warrington. And he doesn’t seriously expect things to be any different until the two of them come together to settle the featherweight debate once and for all. Nottingham Forest fan Wood, who on Saturday defends his WBA belt against Mauricio Lara, the man who inflicted the first of Warrington’s two defeats two years ago, said: “I just need to keep winning.
“Josh has had a lot better wins than me, so he is rightfully a bigger name. If you look at his resume — Lee Selby: unbelievable win, Carl Frampton: unbelievable win, ‘Kid’ Galahad: I rate that as a massive win at the time as well — the list goes on and he has earned his stripes. He has never avoided anyone. He has always been there and taken challenges and won most of the fights.
Leigh Wood (right) wants a mega-fight at Nottingham Forest's City Ground after he has seen off the challenge of Mauricio Lara (Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)“This fight against Lara, for the public, will start to turn the tide, especially as he’s the only person to stop Warrington. But not because Lara is miles better than Warrington, it was just a poor styles match-up for Warrington. Would Lara beat the fighters Warrington did? Probably not. So the Warrington fight is still a massive fight for me.
“It’s all eyes on Lara first — he’s dangerous, hungry, it’s his first shot at a world title because when he boxed Josh it wasn’t on the line. I’m expecting him to be better than I’ve seen him and I’ve told him he needs to be because I want this to be my best performance yet. Then afterwards it could be Warrington, Luis Alberto Lopez, it could be the Michael Conlan rematch if he can win a world title. I don’t really care who I fight next but it has to be at the City Ground.”
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Who would win, Leigh Wood or Josh Warrington? Let us know in the comments section below
Meanwhile, Anthony Joshua will let promoter Eddie Hearn and trainer Derrick James dictate his path back to the top — even if that means him taking the long route round. Joshua has confirmed that he will meet American Jermaine Franklin at London’s O2 Arena on April 1 as he looks to rebuild his career following back-to-back defeats by Usyk.
He said: “Do you know what, in terms of whether I want to go straight back to a world title shot or have a couple more fights, I am stepping away from that aspect now and I'll let my gaffers [Hearn and James] speak on it. But we are certainly not running away from it, me personally, I am not running away from it. Who’ll win out of Usyk and Fury? It does matter to me because it is my division but I am not going to say.”