By Barry Holbrook: Josh Warrington claims Mauricio Lara spit on him moments after his seventh round technical knockout victory over WBA featherweight champion Leigh Wood (26-3, 16 KOs) on Saturday night.
Warrington states that Lara (26-2-1, 19 KOs) came over to the side of the ring and spit at him immediately after his victory over Wood at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England. Video from Matchroom appears to bare that out, as you can see Lara leaning forward over the ropes, looking as if he’s spitting at Warrington.
As many boxing fans know, Lara has bad blood with Warrington due to him being cut from a clash of heads with the Leeds native in their rematch in September 2021, which resulted in the contest beinng halted after two rounds and ruled a technical draw.
Lara feels that Warrington intentionally head-butted him to get out of the fight because he knew he couldn’t win. In their first fight in February 2021, Lara destroyed Warrington by a ninth round knockout in a match that was a total wipeout.
“As soon as the fights waved off, he looks over at me, sees me; I actually thought he was looking over at me in between during the fight,” said Josh Warrington to Matchroom Boxing about Mauricio Lara. “Then you see him go forward and spat [at] me.
“Yeah, I can have a bit of pantomime, shouting & screaming and screaming at each other, but as soon as you spit on me, I’m not having it,” Warrington continued.
“He seems to have this thing over the last few years since we were building up to the second fight that I disrespected his family and his dad. I didn’t even know his dad was part of his training team, but he’s got to the stage now where he wants to finish my career. Listen, I’m more than happy to let him have that opportunity,” said Warrington about Lara.
“I didn’t like his [Lara] comments about Josh was dirty with the headbutts,” said Tony Bellew. “Tonight, he was the one with the head clashes. The head clashes came with Leigh Wood three times, and they were all heavy, and they were all implemented by Mauricio Lara.
“I’m not saying Mauricio Lara is a dirty fighter, and I know Josh isn’t. But head clashes happen in boxing, and it’s kind of the pot calling the kettle tonight,” said Bellew.
“Certainly when you have two fighters going forward and Lara goes forward, and sometimes with heads high,” said Warrington. “That’s when it’s going to happen. When you’re diving in and leaping into the punches, you don’t have time to stop yourself, so heads clash together. Yeah, I got to live with it using it constantly,” said Warrington.
