Leigh Wood is one Britain’s best boxing success stories. Thus, here at SportsLens we have decided to take a deep dive into Leigh Wood’s record and career in boxing. Here is everything you need to know about his boxing career to date.
Leigh Wood Record
The WBA World Featherweight Title was on the line on May 27th 2023 as Leigh Wood successfully regained his belt as he defeated Mauricio Lara by unanimous decision in an immediate rematch in Manchester.
Wood went straight into the rematch having lost via seventh round knockout first time around. However, Wood upset the apple cart in the rematch and successfully won back his WBA World Featherweight Title at the first time of asking.
He then successfully defended his belt again against fellow Brit Josh Warrington – winning via seventh round knockout last time out. Up to now in his professional career, ‘Leigh-Thal’ has barely put a foot wrong. In his 31 professional fights, the Englishman has had his hand raised all but three times.
Of those 28 victories, the Nottingham man has finished 17 of his opponents inside the scheduled distance. Wood made his professional debut back in October 2011, winning his first 11 fights as a pro. He then suffered the first defeat of his career to Gavin McDonnell in February 2014, but has bounced back since in a big way.
Since that first loss to McDonnell, Leigh Wood has beaten fighters such as Ryan Doyle and David Oliver Joyce, before suffering the second defeat of his career to Jazza Dickens. The Dickens defeat came in the final of the Golden Contract tournament, but since then Wood has had a meteoric rise.
Not to mention the fact that the 35-year-old has won various titles throughout his career too. Wood’s first title capture was the Midlands Area Featherweight Title. He then added Commonwealth, WBO European and British Featherweight Title’s to his mantlepiece before getting a shot at world honours.
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Wood became world champion at the first time of asking as he put on a boxing clinic to defeat Can Xu back in July 2021. Wood was boxing superbly and winning the fight convincingly, but he erased any doubt by stopping the champion in the 12th and final round of their contest. Leigh Wood was crowned the new WBA World Featherweight Champion.
Wood then defended his world title in his home city of Nottingham in the most emphatic of fashions. Having hit the deck himself in the first round, Wood fought back and brutally knocked Michael Conlan out cold and out of the ropes to come from behind and win once again via stoppage in the final round.
His third career defeat of course came in the first Mauricio Lara bout. Wood was ahead on the scorecards by quite a handy margin before being halted in the seventh round by a devastating ‘Bronco’ left hook.
However, Wood became a two-time world champion in the rematch by putting on a boxing clinic and defeating Mauricio Lara with relative ease in May 2023. Wood looked sensational, winning a wide unanimous decision in the process of winning back the WBA World Featherweight Title.
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He then defended his world title in emphatic fashion once again, securing yet another stunning knockout against all odds. Josh Warrington was winning the fight against Wood, before the Nottingham man landed a barrage of clubbing shots to knock his Leeds counterpart out in seven rounds. That takes up up to now in the career of Leigh Wood.
Now, expect some huge things in 2024 for Wood. He has officially moved up in weight to super-feather, with some potentially huge fights on the horizon. Wood will likely only have one or two fights before he hangs his gloves up, and will be desperate to end on a high and become a two-weight world champion.
An all-British fight with Joe Cordina could be on the cards next for a world title at 130-pounds, or perhaps a clash with the likes of superstars such as Emmanuel Navarrete, Luis Alberto Lopez or even Gervonta Davis.
No matter who he fights next, Wood will likely go in as the underdog with the best sports betting apps. However, this has been the case for the majority of his fights of late, so you wouldn’t put it past him ripping up the script one final time before retirement.
Be sure to claim the various boxing betting offers and boxing free bets available on the SportsLens site. Also be sure to check out the boxing live streaming sites that will be airing Wood’s fights going forward.
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