By Elliot Foster
Joe Wood has long been looking for an opportunity to break out from the shadows.
The Scouse welterweight is yet to fight in his home city –– but that will change later this week.
Wood, 25, is set to break his duck in Liverpool on Saturday, at the ECHO Arena, as part of the undercard to the World Boxing Super Series quarter-final.
Callum Smith faces Erik Skoglund in the first super-middleweight contest, with the vacant WBC Diamond crown at stake, at the top of the card, exclusively live on free-to-air TV on ITV4.
And ‘The Rydal Psycho’ is delighted to have the chance to show his class and to ultimately improve on his 6-1 (3 KOs) ledger.
“It’s brilliant to finally be boxing in Liverpool,” Wood told Boxing Scene. “And it’s even better that it’s a big arena show.
“Training has been brilliant. I live above the gym so I've got no excuse to ever miss a session, not that I would anyway. I enjoy the training. In fact, [my coach] Robbie [Butler] normally has to stop me running myself into the ground.”
In the build-up to his showcase outing, and after years of cutting his teeth in the amateurs and on the unlicensed circuit, in nightclubs and sports centres, Wood said that he had shared the ring with Shayne Singleton, the former British welterweight title challenger, among others.
“We were due to box in Blackpool on September 1 before this opportunity came about,” he said. “So I started sparring really early and got plenty of rounds in. That has brought me on loads, plus the weight has been coming down nicely, too, which is always a bonus.”
Dee Taggart, who trains Wood alongside the aforementioned Butler at the city's Rydal Gym, had plenty to say about his charge –– including the expression of his excitement at the chance being afforded to the Southport-born orthodox puncher.
“Joe is a good lad,” Taggart said. “He’s quiet and likeable, but when he gets through those ropes, he is seriously dangerous. The man has concrete in his hands.
“It's a massive opportunity for Joe. When we got offered it, we said yes. It doesn't matter who he fights or whatever, it's a big stage for Joe.
“He's a smashing lad, I've trained him since he was a kid.
“But Jesus, he trains like a lunatic and works so hard, so I'm made up for him.”
And all that hard work means that Wood wants to get to the top in double-quick time.
However, he insists that isn’t necessarily his job and that he will leave that to his training team and manager Neil Marsh.
“I leave it in the more than competent hands of Neil to sort my progression,” he added. “But I'd like to step up to more rounds and be fighting for titles in the next 12 to 18 months, hopefully winning them and moving onto bigger things.
“I really appreciate my manager getting me on it. He's got two other lads on in good fights in Zach Parker and Adam Little. They’re both really talented and I’m made up to be sharing the card with them.
“But now, after this fight and over the coming months, I’m looking to raise my profile with the right fights at the right time because I think boxing is too hard a sport to progress too slowly.”
