By Jake Tiernan: Leigh Wood is expected to get a massive seven-figure payday for his fight against Josh Warrington in September at the City Ground in Nottingham, provided the contest takes place in that venue.

The 34-year-old Wood, who was toiling away in near-obscurity just a few years ago, could potentially make millions for his fight with Warrington and make life-changing money to give him a golden parachute for his retirement.

Wood (27-3, 16 KOs) is adamant about facing the popular former IBF featherweight champion Warrington (31-2-1, 8 KOs) at the 30,000-seat City Ground. However, Wood’s promoter Eddie Hearn isn’t certain the venue will be available during that month.

If not, Wood may need to settle for defending his newly won WBA 126-lb title on Warrington’s home turf in Leeds, which could be a disaster for him. We’ve seen Warrington get away with murder with his roughhouse tactics in fights against Mauricio Lara, Kiko Martinez, and, most recently, Luis Alberto Lopez.

“Getting in the ring with Lara was going to be high risk, but the reward was going to be massive if Leigh pulled it off. The reward is now massive,” said Ade Oladipo on his channel. “Leigh Wood will always bee known now as a two-time world champion.

“He gets revenge against someone that blasted him out last time, and bigger than that, you saw the interview after. Leigh said, ‘Yep, the City Ground next. That’s what I want.’

“If Leigh Wood didn’t fight and didn’t win, then you’re not a two-weight world champion. If he didn’t win and fought somebody else, mandatory for that belt is a guy called [Otabek] Kholmatov. I like Leigh Wood, and he’ll probably have a dig at me.

“I don’t think Leigh Wood is beating Kholmatov. He’s an Uzbek fighter. 11-0 with 10 knockouts, a killer. A killer! That’s what would have been the next fight lined up.

“If Leigh Wood fought Kholmatov and lost, people don’t know who Kholmatov is. It’s a bad loss on your record. They know who Lara is. It’s a weird one. In the end, it all worked out for Leigh. He gets the City Ground fight, which will be seven figures.

“He’s 34; he’s going to be 35 soon in a couple of weeks, Leigh Wood, and it looks like he’ll fight Josh Warrington. He’ll beat Josh Warrington as well, I think. So, Wood, what an Indian summer this is. Can Xu, Michael Conlan, Mauricio Lara, and potentially Josh Warrington. Incredible. This is a guy that lost to Jazza Dickens three years ago.

“They knew Mauricio Lara going in had an issue making weight. So they though, ‘If we can get past round six, his spite and energy would start to sink,’ and it did. His energy sank massively after round six,” said Ade.