2023 has the potential to be a career defining year for Leigh Wood and it all kicks off on Saturday night when he defends his WBA world featherweight title against the dangerous Mauricio Lara live on DAZN (excluding Australia and New Zealand).
For Wood, this is a dangerous matchup. Lara has already proven that he can knockout any of his opponents in a flash and he will fancy his chances after seeing Wood pushed to the limit against Michael Conlan last year.
However, if Wood can get past Lara, a big night at the City Ground beckons, most likely against domestic rival Josh Warrington and DAZN Boxing analyst Darren Barker discusses how Wood can make this dream happen below.
Wood needs to apply intelligent footwork
It’s vital that Leigh Wood uses his feet intelligently on Saturday night against Mauricio Lara. What that means is being very disciplined and not being backed onto the ropes or into a corner.
This strategy would be similar to his win over Xu Can where Wood moved a lot, but within a certain area of the ring, he didn’t allow himself to get backed onto the ropes or the corner in an attempt to avoid being caught with any big shots.
Wood will also need to take the distance away from Lara, step either side of Lara before they both get too close to the ropes and this in turn allows space behind him at all times.
Tidy up the defence
Leigh Wood needs to tidy up on that defence, he can’t afford to have his chin high and be constantly leaning back, he will get caught. The Nottingham man has got to be compact throughout, bring his feet out, use that as the defence. Faint, step back, and then throw shots either to the head or body.
Personally, I would prefer Wood to throw the body shot because I believe Lara has looked vulnerable to the body in some of his previous fights.
Wood cannot afford to look past Lara
Leigh Wood has to remain present throughout this fight, he cannot look a second ahead other than when he’s trying to set traps. It’s important to be switched on in this contest because if he starts thinking about the rounds ahead or thinking about where he is in the fight, it means you are not concentrating and have switched off.
If Wood does, Lara will punish him, therefore a disciplined performance is required if he is to walk away victorious on Saturday night.