By Charles Brun: WBA featherweight champion Mauricio Lara is looking dangerous, finishing up the final touches of his training for his rematch with former champ Leigh Wood two weeks from now on May 27th at the AO Arena in Manchester, England.
The soon-to-be 35-year-old Wood (26-3, 16 KOs) could regret his decision to take the rematch with the younger, stronger, and dare I say more talented 25-year-old Lara (26-2-1, 19 KOs) after being knocked out in the seventh round by the Mexican warrior on February 18th in Nottingham.
Is Wood making a mistake?
Some think Wood should have forgotten about Lara and gone in the safer direction towards a still lucrative fight again Josh Warrington in Leeds. Still, Leigh stubbornly has decided to risk it all, like a drunken gambler, hoping to hit the jackpot with his match with Lara.
Wood is likely betting on his success in rounds 3 through 6 can continue in the rematch with Lara, but that’s not realistic.
The only reason Wood did well in those rounds is that Lara inexplicably backed off after batting Wood around the ring like a baseball in the first two rounds.
Had Lara kept his foot on the accelerator, he would have knocked Wood out in the third or fourth rounds in Charles Brun’s view.
Lara won’t hold back this time
In the rematch, you can bet that Lara will go after the aging Wood full throttle and finish him straightaway rather than give him false hope that he can somehow win the fight.
Last February, Lara dropped Wood with a monstrous left hook in the seventh round, sending him down back first on the canvas. When Wood landed, his head bounced hard, and he lay there still for several moments.
Surprisingly, looking in bad shape, a woozy-looking Wood returned to his feet, letting the referee know he wished to continue. Wood’s astute trainer Ben Davison realized he had no chance and quickly threw in the towel to save his fighter from Lara finishing him in a clinical fashion.
Lara has to make sure the fight doesn’t go to the cards because the last thing he needs is to be a victim of a controversial decision in England. The fight is in Manchester, so it would be wise for Lara to take the judges out of play by getting a knockout.
Wood isn’t a billy goat, so there’s no chance we could see Lara cut to ribbons from repeated head-butts as we saw in his rematch with Warrington in September 2021 in Leeds. That fight was scored a second round technical draw.
