Nottingham’s Leigh Wood has been named the only featherweight WBA world champion after long and ultimately futile efforts against former ‘super’ champion, Leo Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz won the belt in 2015 and has held it ever since – except losing to Carl Frampton before winning it back in an immediate rematch.
His last defense at 126lb was in February 2019, before he put on weight to challenge the likes of Miguel Flores and Gervonta Davis. Many in the sport have long assumed that the Mexican tennis player has no intention of giving up a division.
Wood knocked out Chinese champion, Can Xu, in February 2021 to win the regular WBA belt and since then, he’s been keen to take on his ‘super’ champion.
The war is called by WBAbut this week they released a statement confirming that Santa Cruz will give up his ‘Super’ title.
“Leigh Wood is the only featherweight champion of the World Boxing Association (WBA) after Super Champion, Leo Santa Cruz, relinquished the title on Monday, the same day the bidding was scheduled to take place.
The pioneer organization approved the fight between both 126 lbs. champions and bids will be held during the Centennial Convention in Orlando, Florida. However, the Mexican team announced that he would give up his belt, making the British boxer the sole champion of the tournament.
Their organization goes on to say that the decision is a next step in their plan to reduce unnecessary belts in weight classes.
“Now that the WBA has 11 unique champions in 17 divisions, a new step forward in the World Title Reduction Plan launched in August 2021 and that has delivered positive results so far. .
The WBA will continue to make decisions to achieve this goal, with the intention of having a single champion across all divisions.”
Leigh Wood is expected to reschedule a postponed fight with Mauricio Lara, however may also pursue a reunification fight with Luis Alberto Lópeza second battle with Michael Conlan, or a grudge match with Josh Warrington.
