By Sam Volz: Mauricio Lara isn’t phased about fighting in front of what is expected to be a crowd of 8,000+ this Saturday night in the backyard of WBA featherweight champion Leigh Wood (26-2, 16 KOs) at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England.
Lara (25-2-1, 18 KOs) prefers to fight in front of a large crowd that will be making a lot of noise, and it’s no concern to him that they’ll be cheering for his opponent, Wood, who in his mind will need all the support he can get for this fight, which figures to be over in an instant.
Wood, 34, is fighting for the first time as the full WBA featherweight champion, and he wants to make the most of it by beating the boogeyman of the 126-lb division and then moving on to face Josh Warrington at the City Grounds in the summer.
Ben Davison, the trainer for Wood, says he’s got an excellent game plan that he believes will be effective against Lara. Though he’s not explaining what methods they’ll use, it’s likely a mix of these tactics:
1. Movement
2. Holding/grappling
3. Jabbing
4. Slugging
5. Feignts
Last March, Wood picked up the biggest win of his twelve-year professional career with his 12th round drama-filled stoppage victory over Ireland’s Michael Conlan.
It’s difficult to know if Wood can hang around long enough to score a knockout win over Lara because he hits a lot harder than Conlan, and he was barely able to withstand the punishing shots from that adversary.
Wood’s promoter Eddie Hearn believes Lara will gas out after the fight’s midpoint on Saturday. It’s unknown where Hearn got this idea from because Lara has never gassed out late in his fights before.
If anything, he’s shown himself to be just as dangerous a puncher as he is in the early rounds. If you watch Lara’s first fight with Warrington in February 2021, he was still punching with massive power in the ninth round when he stopped Josh.
Lara winning over the Nottingham fans
“I feel like it’s almost a 50-50 now, so I’m delighted at the reception I got here,” said Mauricio Lara to Boxing Social about the Nottingham fans treating him well this week ahead of his fight against WBA featherweight champion Leigh Wood this Saturday night.
“Obviously, he’s a warrior, and you have to give him credit for that, but I’ll have my hand raised on Saturday. We’re really happy with the way we prepared, and we know this hard work, and you’ll see the fruit of that hard work on the 18th on Saturday.
“It’s going to be a war. He said he’d chosen me,” said Lara about Wood, saying that he selected him as his opponent for February 18th. “It’s going to be a very interesting fight, and it’s going to be a war inside that ring.
“In the end, it’s just me and him in there; it’s one-on-one. That kind of feeds me the atmosphere the people bring, so I’m kind of looking forward to it,” said Lara when asked his thoughts on fighting in Wood’s hometown in front of a large group of his supporters.
Wood will need to be his best
“It doesn’t give me any fear whatsoever. He’s had a lot of good performances, and it’s his opportunity to show that on Saturday,” said Lara. “He’s a good champion, and he’ll need to show that on Saturday.
“Of course,” said Lara when asked if he would be interested in fighting Josh Warrington if he successfully defeats Wood on Saturday night. “Watch it because it’ll be a war, fireworks of fists. That’s what you can expect, so don’t miss it,” said Lara.