WBA featherweight champion, Leigh Wood, produced an incredible finish to stop Josh Warrington in the seventh round of a firefight in Sheffield.
Tired, hurt, frustrated and trailing on points, Wood dug deep and conjured up a savage right hook to salvage his title and cruelly end Warrington’s dreams of becoming a three-time featherweight champion.
Everything pointed towards a true British classic and the fighters didn’t disappoint.
Characteristically, Warrington flew out of the traps. More surprising was Wood’s reaction. Rather than trying to tame the Leeds man from distance, Wood decided to meet him head on. It was a frantic start with Warrington getting inside and letting both hands go. Wood took a breath, switched to southpaw and bought himself some more time. A left hand, right hook registered on the man from Leeds at the bell.
Wood’s southpaw success continued into the second. He landed a nice left hook-uppercut as Warrington charged in and seemed to have established his range and distance.
All of a sudden, things changed. Warrington stormed off his stool and opened the third with a ferocious attack, bulling Wood into the ropes and letting heavy hooks go. Wood was definitely troubled and although he managed to escape, Warrington poured forward again towards the end of the round. Just three rounds in, the fight had become an uncompromising, tough affair. It was classic Warrington.
Wood was struggling to cope with Warrington’s intensity. Warrington cleverly skirted the ring and would either charge in behind a hard jab or lead with hard hooks. Once inside, Wood found Warrington almost impossible to negate. To compound Wood’s problems, he ended the round bruised and cut around the right eye.
As the fifth round ended, Wood looked to be feeling every shot Warrington threw, even shots which weren’t landing cleanly were knocking him off balance. by the midway point in the fight, Wood appeared frustrated, weight drained and hurt. The first half of the fight couldn’t have gone better for Warrington.
Warrington picked up a couple of warnings earlier in the fight for some rough inside work and had a point deducted in the seventh for punching behind the head. At that point, it didn’t seem like the scorecards would matter. Warrington was relentless.
As the round drew to a close, a short right hook froze Warrington. The shot came out of nowhere but the follow up attack was instinctive, accurate and devastating and Warrington collapsed to the canvas. He quickly got to his feet and tottered back to his corner. Referee, Michael Alexander, ruled that he was in no position to continue and waved the fight off.
It was a truly stunning finish. The official time of the stoppage was 3.00 of round seven.
Jazza Dickens, Mauricio Lara and Michael Conlan all had success against Wood by setting a high pace and making Wood fight. Warrington has made a career out of doing just that but after heartbreaking defeats to Mauricio Lara and Alberto Lopez doubts centered on his ability to walk through fire at this stage of his career. He proved the doubters wrong but just ran into a man who doesn’t know when he is beaten and a truly devastating right hand. As a two-time world champion, he will believe that he deserved the chance to continue.
Wood’s incredible run continues. After beating Xu Can and Michael Conlan and showing the mental strength to bounce back from a heavy knockout defeat to Mauricio Lara to trounce the Mexican in a rematch, he has established himself as a truly world class operator and his never say die attitude and ability to finish a fight at any moment have made him a must-see attraction.
It is no secret that the 35-year-old struggles to make the 126lb limit and it is highly likely that he will now move unto 130lbs. There have been rumors of a fight at The City Ground, the home of his beloved Nottingham Forest, and IBF super featherweight champion, Joe Cordina, may just end up being the man in the opposite corner.