Leigh Wood just forgot, that’s all. It was okay, too, because I understood why. I understood that he had other things on his mind that Thursday and that even his beloved Nottingham Forest Football Club struggled for real estate in that busy but focused mind nine days from a fight. That they were playing that evening, and that he had arranged for our interview to take place during the match itself, was something lost on Wood until it was suddenly upon us and set to happen. It was then that he asked if it could be brought forward an hour and fifteen minutes. It was then I remembered that I was about to talk to a boxer in the final days of training camp; a time when nothing else matters. 

“It’s unusual for them to be playing on a Thursday,” Wood said when we spoke that night. Yet the day of the week was not the issue. In fact, by the time we spoke at 7pm, half an hour before kick-off, Wood had only just started to relax following a full day’s training; meaning he had only just been granted permission to think of other things, other sports, small pleasures. 

Nottingham Forest, his team, has offered more than small pleasures for Wood and their legion of fans this season. Under the guidance of Nuno Espírito Santos, the Midlands club have exceeded all expectations and currently sit sixth in the Premier League table, one spot outside the Champions League places. Not only that, the success of the team has had a galvanising effect on the city, something Wood hopes to feel when he fights Anthony Cacace at the Nottingham Arena this Saturday. 

“From a motivational standpoint, I’m not just on my own,” said Wood, the city’s most popular active fighter. “I’ve got a whole city behind me and it’s a city I’m proud to represent. They pick me up – almost literally pick me up – when I’m down and out. They really get behind me on fight night. 

“It’s not just my city, either. I’ve got people travelling from all over the country to support me. It’s incredible. 

“Also, from a business point of view, if you’ve got that volume of support, it really helps. There are a lot of fighters sitting around at the moment doing nothing; they can’t get dates; they can’t get fights. That’s because they don’t sell tickets. But, with me, because I’ve got that volume and have shown I can sell arenas up here, and also in Manchester and Sheffield, they know what I bring to the table.”

With ticket-sellers now a dying breed, fighters like Wood, a former WBA featherweight champion, have set themselves apart and, yes, become valuable assets in British boxing. Indeed, Wood provides solid evidence that a boxer does not need to make outlandish remarks, pretend to be something they are not, or spend every waking moment on social media in order to be considered marketable by promoters and financiers. He is instead popular, particularly in Nottingham, on account of his everyman appeal and, more importantly, the value for money he represents on fight night. 

“It does feel different, to be honest,” Wood said of the experience of fighting at home. “The atmosphere is a little bit better and you hear all the chants. I remember watching [Carl] Froch when I was a kid and whenever he boxed in Nottingham it was like a choir echoing around the ring when they would sing and chant. Then I watched him against [Mikkel] Kessler at the O2 [Arena] in London and it just wasn’t the same. The atmosphere wasn’t even half as good. It was pretty poor, to be honest. The arena was big, but there weren’t as many fans from Nottingham there and they couldn’t dominate the place like they would at home. It’s really special when you go to a fight and the bulk of the people there are from that city and know all the chants. 

“Saying that, I’ve got Derby [County Football Club] fans who message me and tell me they’re coming to support me. Even they sing along to some of the Forest songs. They cross enemy lines for one night only.”

On Saturday there will no doubt be a few more Derby County fans in attendance at the Nottingham Arena, each of them trying their best to remain covert but no less committed to the cause. From the first bell to the fight’s conclusion, they will make peace with the Nottingham Forest fans all in the name of getting behind Wood and ensuring that this appearance in Nottingham turns out better than his last one. Last time, of course, Wood found himself stopped in seven rounds by Mauricio Lara, whom he then defeated by decision in a rematch in Manchester three months later. That loss, as regrettable as it was, left Wood not so much traumatised as impatient. He wanted to exorcise any demons as soon as he could. 

“I wanted to go straight back [to Nottingham], but for that rematch to happen so fast it had to take place in Manchester,” he explained. “I was then expecting a homecoming fight against [Josh] Warrington, but that didn’t happen, and we ended up fighting in Sheffield. So the last time I won in Nottingham was the [Michael] Conlan fight [March 2022], and I didn’t get to celebrate that night because I thought I had really hurt him. Hopefully on Saturday I’ll get to celebrate properly in front of my own fans in my home city.”

Wood Conlan Fight

Should that be the case, Wood, 28-3 (17), will be seen celebrating with a junior-lightweight belt (the IBO title) around his waist rather than the featherweight belts he used to win and parade when somehow weighing nine stone. It will, like all his belts of late, be just that little bit looser; that little bit more comfortable. 

“The only difference [going from featherweight to junior-lightweight] is that I’m not feeling as anxious about the weight,” he said. “Usually it is really, really hard for me to make the weight and not worry about it. It would always be in the back of my mind, that thought: Will I be able to make it? I’m pretty much walking around at a similar weight now [as he was when a featherweight], but my cut isn’t as drastic and I have those extra four pounds. I still have to come down a long way, but if I had got complacent about it and put more weight on during camp, it would have ended up being the same cut [as featherweight]. I was trying to avoid that, so the cut isn’t as drastic. That’s what we’ve done. If you saw the numbers at featherweight, you would think it’s mad, frightening.”

If a safety net of four pounds teases the possibility of a happier and improved Leigh Wood this weekend, working in direct opposition to that is the number 19. That is the number of months between Wood’s last fight, against Josh Warrington in October 2023, and his next one against Cacace. 

Far from ideal, the 19 months Wood has spent away from the ring can be attributed to more than one injury and is something that will naturally have people wondering about the impact of ring rust. 

“I think it’s down to the individual,” Wood said when asked about that. “I say it all the time: I’m out the ring but not the gym. I’m very professional and always striving to be better. I stay fit regardless of what is happening and do whatever I’m able to do. When my leg was injured, I was still shadowboxing, and I always look at what I can do rather than what I can’t do. I think that’s been a key factor for me. I’ve been in situations before where I’ve had to have a year out because of an injury and it’s really done my head in. Back then I had no money, hadn’t won anything, and nobody knew who I was. I was 30 years old and had everything stacked against me. But I kept strong and kept doing what I could do. It then paid off. I use the same mindset now, even though I’ve now achieved a few things and made a few quid. I’ve still not finished.”

For any 36-year-old featherweight, the thought of being inactive for almost a year and a half would be considered inconvenient, at best, and, at worst, the beginning of the end. But for Wood it’s not just about peak performing years and the maximising of his physical potential. It is also about capitalising on momentum and building on that fine run of wins against Conlan, Lara and Warrington. Those, ideally, should have led to even bigger fights, as well as Wood cementing his reputation as Britain’s most exciting fighter. 

Instead, he resigned himself to watching everyone else fight from the sidelines. Last year he watched Anthony Cacace shock IBF champion Joe Cordina in eight rounds. He then watched Cacace beat Warrington over 12. 

“He [Cacace] was on my radar for all of 2024,” Wood said. “I wanted that fight before Warrington but I was injured and wouldn’t be ready in time to fight him. So I had to wait a bit, fight Warrington, and here we are. 

“He’s had some really good wins and is in really good form. His confidence must be flying. I‘ve got to go out there and strangle that confidence out of him, round by round. That’s what I’ll do. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but I’ve prepared perfectly for him and I know him better than he knows himself. I’m as confident as he is.”

Cacace, 23-1 (8), is a 35-year-old southpaw from Belfast whose biggest moments have come in the past 12 months. He is also someone whose power belies his knockout percentage and whose recent wins have seen him attack opponents with the conviction of someone certain they can break their heart. 

In that respect, he and Wood are kindred spirits. For if there’s one thing Leigh Wood has now almost mastered, it is breaking hearts when the going gets tough. “I’m prepared for it,” he said of the possibility of yet another war on Saturday. “Am I expecting it? You never know what to expect, to be honest. I just go out there and do what I do and I’ll get the win at any cost, by hook or by crook. 

“It just comes naturally to me,” he added. “You get in there and if that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes. The Can Xu fight [in 2021] was down to tactics, and I got that bang on; it was a breeze considering I only had a few weeks of training for that fight. The second Lara fight [in 2023], I prepared really well for and that was a cruise, too, because I knew him really well and knew what he was doing and when he was going to do it. I just kept him under control. This fight will have its moments, I’m sure. But I still expect to be in control.”

Whenever in the ring, Wood is able to establish the sort of control few get to experience in everyday life. Even when he is seemingly not in control, as was the case for periods against both Conlan and Warrington, Wood perseveres, knowing that it is better to be fighting and still have a chance than to be hurt and not fighting at all. He also knows that for as long as he is upright, punching, and winning, he will to some extent remain in control of his destiny and keep Father Time on the end of his jab.

“We’ll see, but probably 12 months from now,” he said when asked about retirement. “I’m just taking it fight by fight at the moment. I’m not too sure yet. I want that City Ground fight, but you sometimes need a bit of luck in terms of finding the right opponent at the right time.”

Later that Thursday evening, the City Ground played host to Nottingham Forest’s 2-0 loss against Brentford, a result that dented Forest’s hopes of claiming one of the five available Champions League spots. With three games to go, however, this team of so-called overachievers will now look to follow the example set by their city’s favorite fighting son. They will keep going, keep trying, and keep believing. They will continue to throw punches at their target and stop only once they get what they want.