By Brian Webber: Leigh Wood says Mauricio Lara’s aggressive fighting style will be a“recipe for disaster” for him when the two square off on February 18th at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England.
It’s vital that Wood not get hit too often by Lara because he’s easily the biggest puncher he’ll have faced in his career. Lara is a bigger puncher than Wood and is younger with better hand speed. He’s also a superior combination puncher than Wood, which makes him dangerous for the soon-to-be 35-year-old Brit.
Lara and Wood were scheduled to fight last September, but a bicep injury for Leigh necessitated that the contest be moved to February 18th.
The 24-year-old Lara was suspicious about the injury, feeling that Wood may have faked being hurt to save himself from being knocked out, similar to Josh Warrington.
Wood (26-2, 16 KOs) specializes in taking apart fighters that slug it out with him, and he feels that the Mexican power puncher Lara (25-2-1, 18 KOs) is the perfect opponent for him to create another “highlight reel” knockout to add to his growing collection.
How the 34-year-old Wood knocked out his last opponent Michael Conlan in the twelfth round last March was brutal to watch.
Conlan made the critical error of fighting with his back against the ropes, and that was all that Wood needed to catch him with a series of massive blows that knocked him senseless, sending him through the ropes for the KO.
Going into the round, Wood was behind on the scorecards and needed something miraculous to pull out the win.
Wood needs this win to put him in a position to face the fight winner between IBF featherweight champion Luis Alberto Lopez and Conlan. Also, Wood wants to defend against former IBF champion Josh Warrington because that would be a huge match-up in Nottingham.
With Warrington coming off a loss to Lopez, he won’t be in the position to try and stage the fight with Wood in his hometown of Leeds.
“Of course, we prepare for twelve rounds. I don’t know if it’ll complete twelve rounds,” Leigh Wood told Matchroom Boxing about his match-up with Mauricio Lara. “I seem to get a lot of wins in the twelfth round, but I don’t think this fight will go this far, even though I will be preparing for it.
“The things he does is a recipe for disaster against myself. The probability is very high that I’ll get him out of there fairly early and add another reel to the knockout reels I’ve got already.