Leigh Wood vs. Mauricio Lara: Date, venue, titles, tickets and pro records ahead of 2022 featherweight boxing showdown

WBA featherweight champion Leigh Wood returns after defeating Michael Conlan in a sensational fight of the year in March.

The 34-year-old Englishman will return to his hometown of Nottingham for another surefire thriller battle against the hardened Mexican Mauricio Lara.

Wood embarked on an unlikely path to become world champion, while Lara also notched up an unforgettable shock win on British soil to put herself on the cover picture.

The sports news has put together everything you need to know about Wood vs. Lara.

When does Leigh Wood play Mauricio Lara?

Wood’s second defense of his belt takes place on Saturday September 24th.

Where will Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara fight take place?

The fight will be held at Motorpoint Arena, the site of Wood’s final round victory over Conlan.

Immediately after their fight, Conlan announced the prospect of a summer rematch at the City Ground, home of Premier League club Nottingham Forest.

Leeds IBF Champion Josh Warrington was also mentioned as a dance partner for a potential all-British blockbuster, with promoter Eddie Hearn aiming to make it at the 30,000 capacity City Ground.

However, Warrington suffered a broken jaw while brutally stopping veteran warrior Kiko Martinez in the seventh round two weeks after Wood’s win over Conlan.

That threw back his schedule, and he has since expressed interest in traveling to the United States for a possible union with Leo Santa Cruz, who is still considered the “Super” WBA featherweight champion despite last boxing in 2019 at 126 pounds would have.

Meanwhile, Conlan returned to action in Belfast on August 6 with a 10-round points win over Miguel Marriaga. That set the stage for Wood to take on Lara, a man who is indeed very familiar with Warrington.

How to watch Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara

Wood vs. Lara will be shown live on DAZN.

DAZN subscription prices vary by country. In the UK, packages start at £7.99 per month. In the US, DAZN costs $19.99 per month or $99.99 per year.

DAZN has launched its pay-per-view platform for the superfight between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin, which will take place a week before. Wood vs. Lara will be part of this offer and will be available to subscribers at no additional cost.

WATCH ON DAZN: Wood vs. Lara

How to buy tickets for Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara

Tickets for Wood’s latest home game cost between £40 and £150, with VIP packages available for £250.

General sale tickets are available on Friday, August 26th via Stage Front and Motorpoint Arena.

This is 24 hours after Matchroom Fight Pass members gained access to a pre-sale.

Who is on the undercard Leigh Wood vs. Mauricio Lara?

IBO lightweight champion Maxi Hughes takes on fellow Yorkshireman Kid Galahad, who was last seen losing his IBF lightweight belt to Kiko Martinez.

Another title showdown comes in the form of Terri Harper, who takes on Hannah Rankin at two weights and defends her unified super welterweight championship.

Leigh Wood’s career record, titles won

Wood won the first 11 bouts of his pro career before taking on Gavin McDonnell for the vacant British super bantamweight title in February 2014 at the Hull Ice Arena.

In an upside-down encounter, Wood was dropped in round one but beat McDonnell in the next session. He was up front in the fight before withering under a sustained attack from McDonnell, the twin brother of former two-time world bantamweight champion Jamie. He was stopped in the final seconds of lap six.

After that setback, he moved up to featherweight and impressed on a couple of high-profile undercards in Sheffield, outing Josh Wale and knocking out former amateur rival Lee Glover.

Wood dispatched Glover in the second round and did the same when he fought Abraham Osei Bonsu for the vacant Commonwealth Featherweight Title in March 2019. He defended the belt once against Ryan Doyle and won the WBO European Featherweight title with a ninth-round stoppage from David Oliver Joyce.

On his next appearance, Wood dropped a majority decision against former world title challenger James “Jazza” Dickens, ending a 12-fight win streak in February 2020.

Wood bounced back impressively with a ninth-round TKO against previously undefeated Reece Mold at Wembley Arena 12 months later, but that did little to pre-empt a stunning rise to world fame.

Boxing at Matchroom HQ as part of the Fight Camp series, Wood beat China’s Can Xu before stopping the WBA Champion in the last round.

Remarkably, Wood repeated the trick in an instant classic against Conlan. The home favorite was down and badly injured in lap one but fought back into the competition. Conlan went down in round 11 and then was sent stone cold through the ropes as Wood snatched the win. It was his finest moment and propelled him to a career record 26-2 with 16 KOs.

Mauricio Lara’s career record, titles won

Lara’s career got off to a false start when he dropped a debut four-round split decision to the unheralded Julio Carabino.

He then went on to rack up 11 wins before suffering a first-round KO of Eliot Chavez, a fighter last seen on British shores who was disqualified for beating Harlem Eubank twice after a ‘pause’ was called.

Lara chained another 11 wins against inconspicuous opponents and little was expected of him when he was called up as an opponent for Warrington in a behind-closed-doors encounter during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lying on the same map where Wood Mold defeated, Warrington was dropped by the Visitor in round four and thrashed around the ring until his misery came to an end after another trip to the canvas in round nine.

Warrington cited a lack of atmosphere and adrenaline to mitigate his first career loss and attempted to right the wrongs in an immediate rematch.

Headingley rugby ground in Leeds certainly produced an incredible atmosphere to get the blood pumping, although perhaps such a description is a little too close to the bone as Lara was badly injured by a head collision in round two and the fight was abandoned as a technical draw .

Lara also enjoyed his final performance in March of that year, when he knocked out Emilio Sanchez in three rounds in San Diego and set his career record at 24-2-1 with 17 KOs.

Warrington’s decision to relinquish his IBF belt before their first fight means Lara has never fought for a major title in his career. However, he is ranked as the world’s number one featherweight by the prestigious Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.