The big prize at featherweight is on the line this Saturday night, live on DAZN, as Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington finally go at it in Sheffield. This fight has been on the radar for a number of years as the pair have both been leading fighters in their division, and now we finally get to see it and I’m predicting a classic.
This is one of the closest 50-50 fights I’ve ever had to call. I’m struggling to name the winner and I think this is going to come down to who has the most left. Both men have had some really hard nights, some outstanding fights, and believe me, that always catches up with you, so this is all about who is the fresher fighter.
Warrington has been at the highest level a lot longer than Wood, and you can go back to 2018 when he burst on the world title scene with wins over Lee Selby and Carl Frampton. His career hit a huge stumbling block during COVID when he was sensationally stopped by Maurico Lara, and he was defeated for a second time last year when he was outpointed by Luis Alberto Lopez.
Whilst Warrington was looking to rebuild from the Lara defeat, Wood was creating a world title legacy of his own. His win at Fight Camp over Xu Can in 2021 put him on the map and what followed against Michael Conlan last year was unforgettable. I thought at the time that the Conlan fight could put miles on his clock, and it looked that way when Wood was stopped by Lara earlier this year.
It only took one shot for Wood to unravel in that one and it appeared all the hard nights had finally caught up with him, but then he defeated Lara in the rematch and proved everybody wrong. Wood was superb in the second meeting with Lara, and he showed he can still stick to a plan, but will he be able to do that against Warrington when the crowd is urging both men to just go for it?
Ask me who’ll win this fight as many times as you want in between now and the first bell and there’s an excellent chance you'll get a different answer every time. That’s how close this fight is. As it stands, I just think Wood has a little more left and that’ll be enough to get him over the line in a fight that will be tense throughout.