Leigh Wood hits back at critics ahead of Mauricio Lara clash

The WBA world featherweight has enjoyed a career resurgence since beating Xu Can for the WBA 'regular' title in July 2021, a victory which many didn't believe was possible. 

Eight months later, he then took on Michael Conlan in what was a dramatic encounter. After being knocked down in the first, it looked like Wood would be beaten in front of his home fans in Nottingham, but a resurgence in the latter stages saw him knock out Conlan in round 12 and confirmed that he is one of the best fighters at 126lbs. 

But when speaking exclusively to DAZN ahead of his meeting with Lara on February 18, his win over Conlan still feels like a performance which doesn't get given enough praise. 

"I don’t lose much sleep over it, as long as it says ‘W’ on the record and I’ve still got my belt, that’s all that matters," Wood said.

"People might look at the fight and think that I’ve got lucky, which is good, because when the rematch finally happens, they will just think that all they need to do is do what they did last time and not get caught with another punch. 

"That’s not what happened, I’ve got my scouting reports, loads of information, and it’s dated from way before the fight and I can share that eventually. 

"From a credit point of view, it’s not something that I crave, but it’s something that may not come straight away, and may take more time and scalps to get there."

Wood and Lara were originally set to meet last September before the WBA title holder was forced to pull out due to a bicep injury. Many thought Wood would as a result swerve the dangerous Mexican in favour of a less dangerous opponent, but he insisted that he was never going to avoid Lara in the hope of silencing his critics. 

"No, there’s always options, I didn’t have to fight Lara, but in my eyes it was always going to be Lara after pulling out through injury, I wasn’t going to swerve him," Wood responded when asked whether the plan was always to fight Lara next. 

"We picked that, I didn’t have to take the fight in the first place, that was the fight we chose, with reason as well. It’s a fight that suits me, it’s a fight that I will finally get credit for.

"I feel like the in Xu Can fight, I never got the credit because there was no comparison. Whereas this fight everyone is saying that I’m going to get wiped out, knocked out, all the rest of it. The comparison is there, he’s the only person to stop Josh Warrington so I’m looking to do a number on him and finally getting the credit for it."

Saturday's fight will be the first time Wood will be defending his title as the WBA's outright featherweight champion and if he managed to get past Lara, there is the potential for a big domestic matchup with Josh Warrington in the Summer in a stadium fight at the City Ground, the home of his beloved Nottingham Forest.