By Mark Eisner: In a scary finish, WBA ‘regular’ featherweight champion Leigh Wood (26-2, 16 KOs) survived an early knockdown to come back to stop previously unbeaten #1 Michael Conlan (16-1, 8 KOs) in the 12th round on Saturday night at the Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, England.
Conlan was getting the better of Wood in the 12th round when suddenly he backed up against the ropes and was nailed with a flurry of shots, causing him to collapse into the ropes and fall through them.
The fight was then halted immediately by the referee when he saw the condition Conlan was in. The paramedics had to be brought in to take the badly hurt Conlan out of the arena.
Conlan knocked Woods down in the first round with a big overhand left hand. In the 11th round, Woods dropped an exhausted Conlan with a left hand.
Referee Steve Gray halted the fight at 1:25 of round 12.
Wood vs. Conlan card undercard results:
- Former IBO/WBC World Female super featherweight champion Terri Harper (12-1-1, 6 KOs) bounced back from her recent knockout loss to defeat Yamila Belen Abellaneda (13-5-1 3 KOs) by a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision to capture the WBA Intercontinental lightweight title. The judges’ scores were 99-91, 99-91, and 99-91.
- Female super lightweight Erica Farias (27-5, 10 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten prospect Sandy Ryan (3-1, 2 KOs) by a 10 round split decision. The scores were 95-94, 97-94 for Farias, and 97-93 for Ryan.
- Undefeated lightweight contender Gary Cully (14-0, 8 KOs) destroyed grizzled 35-year-old former IBF 135-lb champion Miguel Vazquez (44-11, 17 KOs) by a fifth round knockout in a mismatch. Cully, 26, dropped twice in the contest, once in the third and a final time in the fifth. In round five, Cully flattened Vazquez with a powerful combination that put him down hard. The fight was then halted by referee Michael Alexander. The time of the stoppage was at :41 of the fifth. Earlier in the contest, Vazquez was cut over his left eye from a shot. With the victory, #10 WBA Cully would like to get a title shot soon. For the boxing fans that remembered how talented Vazquez was a decade ago when he held the IBF lightweight title and was one of the best fighters in the division, it was troubling to see how past it he looked tonight.
Michael Conlan has a big test
“You know when you have a lot of spite in the build-up, and you get to the final press conference, the talking is done. You go, ‘No, it’s not. We’re here to talk,'” said Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn to Behind the Gloves on the lack of energy between Wood and Conlan at the final press conference.
Preview
“I think the talking is done. The tickets are sold, and it’s going to be a tremendous fight. You’ve got the hype of Michael Conlan for a long time and the Leigh Wood story; it all comes together for a great narrative.
“Two great trainers, a massive traveling Irish support, huge Nottingham support as well. We’re going to get a great fight.
“To be honest with you, Leo Santa Cruz shouldn’t even be the Super Champion [with the WBA at featherweight,” said Hearn. “I mean, he hasn’t boxed at 126 pounds for years and years [since 2019], but I don’t agree with the decision.
“This fight [Wood vs. Conlan] should be for the Super Championship, and I believe the winner of this fight will still be Super Champion because I just think Leo Santa Cruz won’t make 126 anymore.
“So, I think the winner of this fight will fight the winner of Warrington-Martinez in a couple of weeks. But regardless of Super Champion, whatever it’s going to be, it’s just a brilliant fight, a real 50-50, and a really intriguing battle,” said Hearn.
“How good is Michael Conlan? That’s what we’re going to find out,” said Hearn to iFL TV. “He’s never really boxed at the level of Leigh Wood. How many more levels can Leigh Wood go through? The answer is many in his home city. I think it’s going to be a brilliant fight,” said Hearn.
“We know the Irish always bring it, but Nottingham has come out as well in massive numbers, and 10,000 will come out. This is just a taste of what we’re going to get. Not just a great atmosphere, but a really, really great fight,” Hearn said of the Wood vs. Conlan clash.
Both fighters dealing with pressures
“It feels a little bit like Quigg vs. Frampton back in those days. You’ve got England, you’ve got Belfast, and a huge amount of traveling fans as well. It’s going to be a great night and a great fight as well,” Hearn continued on the Wood – Conlan clash.
“I think there are different pressures on them both. For Leigh Wood, he seems really, really calm, but he never expected to be in this position. If you look back a year, two years, or three years, this seemed like a slim chance that this would ever happen.
“For Michael Conlan, he’s kind of expected to go through these levels. He had the big contract with Top Rank, had the big push,” Hearn said when asked where does the loser of the Wood-Conlan fight go.
“I think there are big pressures on them both, but for the loser, for Leigh Wood, they’re both capable of coming back from this, but they both want to go on and be in those big unification fights.
“I think for Michael Conlan, a defeat would be very difficult to take because of the expectations on him. Leigh Wood, he’s been beat before, he’s come back, and he’s been through all of that before. He seems really calm.
“Tired at the weight, both of them a little bit, but Leigh Wood is going to be the much, much bigger man because Conlan is really coming up from bantam to super bantam. So, I think you’re going to get a great fight.
“Yeah, I think so,” said Hearn when asked if Wood vs. Conlan is the biggest fight for him thus far in 2022. “I think the two fights coming up, the two featherweight championship fights, Conlan against Wood and [Kiko] Martinez against Warrington in a couple of weeks, it’s a great couple of weeks.
“Obviously, mix that in with Gennady Golovkin on DAZN with Taylor-Serrano at Madison Square Garden, with Conor Benn against Van Heerden, with Canelo Alvarez against Dmitry Bivol. It’s an incredible few weeks,” said Hearn.
WBA ‘regular’ featherweight champion Leigh Wood makes his maiden defense of his title tonight against unbeaten #1 challenger Michael Conlan live on DAZN in their headliner at the Nottingham Arena, in Nottingham, England.
The action on the top portion of the card kicks off on DAZN at 2:00 p.m. ET.
The two-time Olympian Conlan (16-0, 8 KOs) will be taking a step up in class against the experienced 11-year professional Wood (25-2, 15 KOs) in a fight that is expected to have nonstop action from start to finish.