Results from Nottingham where Mauricio Lara Torpedoed Leigh Wood

Matchroom Boxing Promotions was in Nottingham, England tonight where the featured bout pitted local fan favorite Leigh Wood against Mexico City’s Mauricio Lara. Wood was coming off a victorious effort in a brutal rumble with Michael Conlan in the consensus 2022 Fight of the Year and was making the second defense of the WBA world featherweight title he won from Can Xu.

Despite Wood’s home field advantage, Lara, at age 24 the younger man by 10 years, was chalked the favorite, going to post in the 9/4 range. And for the first half of the fight, the price-makers didn’t look so smart. Wood, trained by Ben Davison, worked the body and countered effectively and despite suffering a cut over his left eye in the opening frame from an accidental clash of heads, he was plainly ahead after six rounds.

But Lara, the Mexican spoiler who scored a ninth-round stoppage of previously undefeated Josh Warrington at Wembley on his first trip to the U.K., possessed the equalizer and when he unleashed it, Leigh Wood was a cooked goose. A vicious left hook put Wood down hard and although he beat the count, his legs were jello and Davison tossed in the towel with only six seconds remaining in the seventh round.

Lara improved to 26-2-1 with his 19th win inside the distance. Wood declined to 26-3. The bout had a rematch clause and Wood’s promoter Eddie Hearn was confident that Leigh Wood would activate it.

Semi-Windup

In a monotonous 12-round fight, Sheffield’s Dalton Smith (14-0, 10 KOs) successfully defended his British 140-pound title with a wide decision over uninspired countryman Billy Allington (10-2-4). The feather-fisted Allington, who fought a survivor’s fight, has defeated only three opponents with winning records.

Other Bouts

In a lightweight affair slated for “10”, Gary Cully, a lanky southpaw from Naas, Ireland, improved to 16-0 (10) with a second-round stoppage of Dunkirk, New York import Wilfredo Flores (10-1-1). It was the fifth straight win inside the distance for Cully whose next outing will come on Katie Taylor’s homecoming fight in Dublin.

Gravesend’s Jamaica-born cruiserweight Cheavon Clarke (5-0, 4 KOs) knocked down Israel Duffus four times but couldn’t finish him. A 30-year-old LA-based Panamanian, Duffus (20-9) won a couple of rounds but was widely out-pointed, losing by scores of 98-90 and 98-88 twice. In his first four pro fights, Clarke, a 2020/21 Olympian, had answered the bell for only 11 rounds.

In a shocker, Birmingham super bantamweight Gamal Yafai, one of three prominent fighting brothers, was knocked down three times and comprehensively out-pointed by Argentina’s Diego Alberto Ruiz. A consensus 7/1 favorite, Yafai suffered his third loss in 22 starts. The judges had it 98-89, 97-90, and 97-91 for Ruiz who improved to 24-6-1.

Northampton super middleweight Kieron Conway rebounded from a setback in Las Vegas to Ammo Williams with an easy 8-round decision over 39-year-old Portuguese campaigner Jorge Silva (21-8). Conway, who improved to 19-3-1, won all eight rounds on the referee’s scorecard.

Also, Liverpool junior welterweight Sam Maxwell (17-1, 16 KOs) coasted to a 6-round decision over countryman Shaun Cooper (13-5). Maxwell’s Commonwealth title wasn’t at stake in his previous fight when he was shockingly manhandled by Mexico’s Alejandro Meneses who stopped him in nine frames. Next up for Maxwell, if things go according to plan, is a date with Dalton Smith in Sheffield on April 29.

Photo credit: Dave Thompson / Matchroom Boxing

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