Leigh Wood versus Mauricio Lara on DAZN

There will be fireworks in Nottingham on Saturday LIGHT WOOD takes on Mexican danger man Mauricio Lara.

Social media was awash with criticism when Matchroom and broadcast partner DAZN announced their fight plan for the first third of 2023 along with a notable price hike, but on one thing all fans agreed that this first headline fight of the year should be a cracker.

Wood could easily have defended his WBA featherweight title against a less dangerous opponent, so he deserves full credit for heading straight for the fire here and taking on the man everyone else seems to avoid.

Lara (25-2-1) earned his fearsome reputation when he arrived in the UK almost two years to the day and caused quite a stir with his one-sided pounding on previously undefeated Josh Warrington. A 14/1 outsider that night, the visitor injured Warrington early, dropping him badly in the fourth and eventually getting the stoppage in the ninth round.

The Mexican is 4/9 (as short as 4/11) to make another successful visit to these shores, but that’s based solely on the win at Warrington and the champion should arguably be shorter than 9/4.

As brutal and dominating as the Warrington win was, it may have overrated Lara. Warrington has admitted he took the big underdog lightly that night, struggling to get up for the competition behind closed doors, while also returning from a 16-month layoff and subsequently looking nowhere near the fighter he once was.

Lara has questions to answer

We learned nothing from their rematch, which was called off by Warrington in the second round after a gruesome laceration over Lara’s eye through the head before Lara did just as was expected of him as he defeated the under-regarded Emilio Sanchez and Jose Sanmartin in three timed rounds apiece.

While Lara clearly has some serious power and potential, we still don’t really know how good he is, and he’s been rated here mostly on reputation.

Wood (26-2) has been one of British boxing’s biggest success stories in the last two years and arguably the most improved male fighter of that period.

Since dropping a narrow decision against ‘Jazza’ Dickens in February 2020, he has stopped the previously undefeated Reece Mold in nine rounds, shocked himself by winning the title against Xu Can (TKO 12) and then KO’d Michael Conlan of the ring in the final round of their battle for the nominee of the year last March.

In insisting on this fight, Wood and his trainer Ben Davison have clearly seen Lara’s weaknesses that they believe they can exploit. Can they do it again here after making a habit of disrupting the odds?

Wood was dropped by Conlan in the first round and badly injured, so many have pointed out that there will be no turning back for the local if Lara catches him with the same shot. While that’s probably true, Conlan was advertised as feather-fisted and Wood will have a lot more respect for Lara’s power, so it’s likely he’ll be more wary of early doors.

A skilled southpaw with fast hands, Conlan was also stylistically completely wrong for Wood and the latter should be more comfortable with Lara’s style.

Lara will force the fight from the start as he stalks his prey and tries to unload poisonous hooks from all possible angles. But as dangerous as they are, he leaves himself open when throwing those long shots and can often be very rude in his wild approach. Wood, who is taller and taller, is more technical and could use his superior skills to the full.

Wood has the tools to take the excitement down

A very skilled switch hitter, Wood boxed beautifully as he defeated Xu Can to win the title as he maintained the distance behind his jab and caught the Chinese visitor with hard counters on the way inside. This type of tactic could prove very effective for Wood back here and he has the power not only to deter Lara’s advances but also to hurt him.

Although Lara prevailed in his ordeal with Sanchez 11 months ago, he looked very beatable and appeared to be in serious trouble before leveling in the closing seconds of round three.

That said, I’m not to say I don’t rate Lara and if this is played in close quarters odds of 8/13 for him to win by stoppage could well be justified. However, I feel that the shifts gave the Mexican a little too much respect and maybe read too much into his win over Warrington.

After all, we still don’t know how Lara’s chin will hold up to a world-level puncher, and he’s also had a history of body injuries, an area Wood is known for testing. Wood also has home field advantage and that counted for a lot as the 9,000 crowd roared their man to victory over Conlan.

Wood might have to survive an early storm or two, but if he can weather these, Lara, who’s gotten used to having things her own way lately, might start to unravel. While he can’t afford to lose focus, the more versatile Wood has the size, skill and strength to execute his game plan and prevail against the dangerous but unproven Mexican.

WOOD TO WIN ROUNDS 7-12 would have been a winning bet on any of his last three outings and that result is appealing at a whopping 10/1.

If Lara fulfills his undisputed potential it could go awry in spectacular fashion for Wood’s supporters, but the value seems to be in the home fighter in a contest that looks closer than the odds would suggest to me. Drama is the only thing that looks safe here, but hopefully it will be the kind of drama that will send local fans home happy.

Posted at 1000 GMT on 02/17/23

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