Boxing

Eddie Hearn admires Leigh Wood for picking Maurico Lara for a voluntary defense on February 18


Via Jack Tien Nam: Eddie Hearn has great respect for Leigh Wood for choosing Mauricio Lara to voluntarily defend his WBA featherweight title next week on February 18 at Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, England. The battle will be displayed live on DAZN.

Wood (26-2, 16 KOs) doesn’t have to be in this fight, as he could have picked a soft shot from the bottom of the 126 lb leaderboard, but he wants to take on big puncher Lara (25 -2- 1, 18 KOs) to show boxing fans what he can do with the boxer who knocked out former IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington in 2021, and then allegedly got robbed in a rematch seven months later in Leeds.

Hearn didn’t hint the 34-year-old Wood’s game plan would be for Lara, but he could go to war with him as he did in his final fight with Michael Conlan last March.

If Wood is going to fight a younger and tougher fighter than Lara, he’s going to need a good chin because he’s going to hit big shots. The fact that Wood was injured by weak puncher Conlan eleven months ago is not a good sign.

The reason is that if Wood can barely handle Conlan’s power, he won’t last long against Lara before being knocked out on February 18.

It probably won’t work for Wood if he chooses to use an illegal straight blow against Lara that he repeatedly uses to dethrone WBA featherweight champion Can Xu in 2021 because of the knockout boxer who Mexico has used that tactic before.

Hopefully Wood won’t use that illegal tactic again as he fought Xu all night without the referee having him fight at Matchroom headquarters in Brentwood, Essex.

“I think Leigh Wood versus Mauricio Lara has all the ingredients to be the match of the year,” Eddie Hearn told. boxing DAZN about Leigh Wood’s title defense against Mauricio Lara on 18 February in Nottingham.

“We watched the match of the year or the event or the knockout of the year, and the one that won multiple awards in Leigh Wood against Michael Conlan,” Hearrn continued of Wood’s fight with Conlan in March of this year. 2022 last year.

“Last year at the same arena, the arena would be packed. It’s unusual to see a world champion in his hometown come close to being a 3-on-1 outsider in a voluntary defensive situation.

“Leigh Wood chose Mauricio Lara, and many said when he tore his biceps last year, ‘Oh, Leigh Wood doesn’t like fights.’ That’s why he chose him in the first place, and now he’s choosing him again.

“Ben Davison and Leigh Wood believe they can handle Mauricio Lara. Mauricio Lara was so convinced that he went straight through Leigh Wood in Nottingham. It’s going to be an absolute thriller in Nottingham on February 18, and I can’t wait to see it.

“Our ambition for Dalton Smith is for him to become world champion at the age of 140,” Hearn said of British lightweight champion Dalton Smith, who faced Billy Allington in the mid-match. Wood vs. Lara on February 18.

“The first step was to win that beautiful Lonsdale belt and hang it on the wall. After that, we have the ability to move on to the European level or the side world, but the process of building Dalton Smith as a star warrior is already underway. He wants to win immediately.

“So it would be Allington on February 18, and then it would be the final defense, taking the lead in Sheffield in April for the title, and then we move on from there to the bigger games. . This is just the beginning for Dalton Smith.

Hearn said: “He’s building a really good fan base in Sheffield, and is getting him ready for the game against Allington, who he should have been too good for, but he didn’t. got the chance of a lifetime on the big stage,” says Hearn.

26-year-old Dalton Smith (13-0, 10 KOs) will defend his British lightweight belt against Billy Allington (10-1-4) in a 12-round match on the undercard of the Wood vs.

videos on YouTube

news7f

News7F: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button