Via Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn says Josh Warrington will win against the winner of the Leigh Wood vs. Mauricio Lara for a chance to claim Leigh’s WBA ‘Super’ featherweight world belt.
Warrington (31-2-1, 8 KOs) is tipped to have a undeserved chance to fight for the world title with winner Wood-Lara after losing his IBF featherweight belt last Saturday night to Luis Alberto Lopez (27-2, 15 KOs). ) by majority decision in round 12 at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England.
Continuing that fight with Lopez, Hearn talked about letting Warrington challenge the winner of the Wood vs. Lara to unify.
Surprisingly, Hearn chose to stay with his original plan to fight Warrington against winner Wood-Lara even though he lost to Lopez and no longer owns the IBF title. The only thing that has changed is that Warrington will enter the battle as a challenger instead of a champion.
Lopez beat Warrington with scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 114-114. Many boxing fans felt that Warrington should have been penalized for his headbutts and bunny punches in the final four rounds of the bout.
Hearn didn’t mention Warrington’s foul when talking excitedly about how he recovered in the championship rounds.
It was a tough claim for 34-year-old Wood (26-2, 16 KOs) to beat the younger, stronger and tougher 24-year-old Lara (25-2-1, 18 KOs).
Wood defeated Michael Conlan in the final match and was lucky to win by knockout in the twelfth round. If it weren’t for Conlan’s out of breath, Wood would have lost that match because he was overworked.
If Hearn and Wood expect Lara to exhale like Conlan did, they may be disappointed. By the time Lara refueled, Wood had already been knocked down several times. Lara hit too hard, and Wood’s lower jaw wouldn’t be able to withstand twelve rounds of beatings without him breaking.
“It was a great fight. A fight between two elite feather classes” said Eddie Hearn iFL TV about last Saturday’s match between 126 lb IBF champion Josh Warrington and Luis Alberto Lopez.
“Lopez is very good; we know that. Josh got off to a bad start, but Lopez got out of the trap really sharp. I feel like Lopez won most of the first half of teamfights and Warrington won most of the end.
“Four rounds to go, I thought, ‘He [Warrington] it takes three out of four or four out of four, all four innings to win this match.’ I gave him three of the last four.
“It’s hard because you walk in [the ring], and the corner goes, ‘Oh, we’ve won.’ I said, ‘It’s very close, very close.’ When I heard 114-114, I thought, ‘That’s pretty close to me.’ Two people had it 115-113, and I thought, ‘Champions in Leeds. I think we’ll get this,’ and apparently, it went to Lopez.
“It’s a fight that can go both ways. No major complaints. I think Josh Warrington got off to a slow start but it was a great fight. That’s what happens when you fight high level warriors.
“You know what? I don’t think much has changed [for Warrington] because, before that game, it was the game against Leigh Wood or the game in America. Obviously, he [Warrington] having to do it without a belt, which makes it a bit more difficult, but we’re trying to lock Mauricio Lara against Leigh Wood.
“You saw Leo Santa Cruz gone. So Leigh Wood is a super champion with the WBA, and he wants to play Mauricio Lara, which is a very good match that we want to make. I think the winner of that could fight Josh Warrington.
“So it won’t be a unity, but not much has changed for Josh Warrington in that respect,” Hearn said.
