Leigh Wood's coach criticised for throwing in towel to stop Mauricio Lara fight

19 February 2023 , 16:18

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Leigh Wood lost his featherweight title on Saturday night (Image: Getty Images)

Leigh Wood's trainer, Ben Davison, has been told he made the wrong call by throwing in the towel to stop his fighter's world title clash against Mauricio Lara.

Lara, 28, came back from losing most of his fight against Wood in Nottingham to win the Brit's featherweight title with a seventh-round stoppage. Both men exchanged left hooks but Lara's landed with more conviction and Wood was sent crashing to the canvas. The fight was waved off despite Wood getting back to his feet and beating the count as his trainer Davison threw in the towel.

Former cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellew has criticised Davison's call and thinks he should have let Wood fight on. Just over 10 seconds were remaining in the seventh round and Bellew thinks Wood wasn't badly hurt, judging by his reaction when Davison threw in the towel.

“I’m usually very rewarding to trainers for stopping fights like that," Bellew said. "Listen, Ben Davison knew what he was getting into tonight. You’ve got to let him carry on. You know you are going to get hurt in a fight. He’s not completely gone because look at his reaction as soon as he sees that towel.

“He says, ‘no, no, no, no, no’. I know what people are going to say that Ben Davison knows him better than anyone else. I get that. You know he was going to get hurt at some point tonight. You’ve got to let him ride it out. He was hurt worse against Michael Conlan."

Leigh Wood vow to step towards Josh Warrington status with Mauricio Lara win

Do you think Ben Davison was right to stop the fight between Leigh Wood and Mauricio Lara? Let us know in the comments section below.

Coach Ben Davison stopped Leigh Wood's fight against Mauricio Lara (PA)

Wood defended his featherweight title with a stunning knockout against Conlan that sent him through the ropes last March. The Brit was knocked down in the first round of that fight but, in a similiar fashion to his knockdown against Lara, beat the count and was able to recover. Bellew thinks Wood was taking more punishment in his win against Conlan than against Lara, further questioning Davison's decision.

“Josh [Warrington] said Lara is a different puncher to Conlan, but his head was getting rocked from side to side by Michael Conlan and Ben was happy to let it ride. Three, four, five and six-punch combinations Conlan was throwing at times and Leigh Wood was taking them and Ben didn’t throw it in. You’ve got to let him see it out," Bellew added.

Harry Davies