Written by Eóin Kennedy
Looking backwards July 2021 seems like a surreal dystopian nightmare when the world was coming into the final few laps of the Covid 19 pandemic, when masks were mandatory, people were restricted in how far they could travel, and boxers made their living fighting in Eddie Hearn’s back garden. The July 31 Matchroom show was the first under the promotion’s exclusive broadcasting deal with streaming service DAZN. Matchroom main man, Hearn, assembled a government like cabinet of commentator’s, presenters, trendy You Tube personalities and declared ad-nauseum, “GAME CHANGED”. Matchroom were here to take over boxing. Their alliance with new kid on the block DAZN was unstoppable and the die was cast as far as Hearn was concerned. The first show under the new partnership would be headlined by Conor Benn but he was struck down with Covid. With his career seemingly stalled again, based on the recent court ruling regarding his two failed drug tests, Matchroom need a domestic star to fill the void. The man who stepped into the main event slot on July 31 may be nearing the end of his career, but he still has some big nights that could give Hearn’s promotion a domestic shot in the arm. That man is two-time world champion Leigh Wood.
On the night in question where Leigh Wood was catapulted into the last fight of the evening against Can Xu, the Nottingham fighter was never even supposed to be the one fighting the then WBA ‘regular’ world champion. This was back when Leo Santa Cruz was holding the WBA super-title hostage and the governing body did what they usually do, made a decision that made no sense. They let Santa Cruz hold on to the belt for so long whilst inactive at the weight class. At the time another Matchroom fighter, Josh Warrington, was the IBF champion and looking to face Xu in a unification, only for the fact that Xu’s title was only the ‘regular’ iteration of the WBA’s world championship, preventing their fight from being sanctioned as a unification. Standard boxing nonsense. Warrington vacated his belt and wandered aimlessly into a devastating knockout defeat to Mauricio Lara, and Leigh Wood was there to pick up the pieces left behind by both Benn who was sick and Warrington who had moved on from the Xu fight. Wood knocked out Xu that night and Matchroom once again had a world champion perfectly bred to fight on home soil. Wood was upgraded to super-champion in advance of his next fight against Michael Conlan, when Santa Cruz finally vacated.
But where are Matchroom at now with Wood, almost three years on from his breakout performance against the well-regarded Chinese fighter? Wood is no spring chicken, he’ll understand that at 35 years of age, as a featherweight/super-featherweight fighter, he’s very much on the home straight of his career. He’s been a fighter that has peaked on the back end of his career, scoring defining wins over Conlan, Warrington and Lara, all since the Can Xu fight. He also lost to Lara once in that time period, so he’s been extremely active against top opposition, ensuring he doesn’t waste time or earning opportunities. So, having vacated his WBA featherweight world title to campaign a division above, who is Wood’s next opponent going to be? The obvious choice is the rematch with Warrington. The very toxic rivalry which has developed between the pair since they fought last year lends itself to an easily marketable fight. The dislike is coupled with the fact that both fighters are supported by a large legion of parochial fans, that are traditional rivals based on battle lines that have already been drawn through football and local pride; Wood is from Nottingham, Warrington from Leeds.
The fight between Wood and Warrington should be easy to make as the English duo share a promoter but Warrington has stated that Wood’s demand that the fight land at Nottingham Forest’s football stadium, the City Ground, are proving too big a hurdle. Hearn has mentioned many times that he’d get Wood a fight at his beloved football team’s stadium, and the fighter even said it’s written into his most recent contract, but he might be wise not to hold his breath. After almost every Josh Warrington fight Hearn would declare that the next one would be in Las Vegas or New York, but it looks like the Leeds fighter will retire without ever stepping foot on US canvas. If Wood and Warrington can’t come to an agreement, the latter will likely take one last world title tilt at super featherweight before retiring. Three of the four world champions at that weight class, Emannuel Navarette, Joe Cordina and Lamont Roach Jr, have fights either scheduled or ordered, which leaves WBC champion O’Shaquie Foster. Foster finished off last year strong with a successful defense of his title over Abrham Nova. Foster, like Wood, is an all-action fighter and the prospect of him and the Englishman standing and exchanging punches is a fun prospect for fans. Whoever Wood fights next, hopefully it will be soon as the man from the same town as Robin Hood has been providing us with some of the most fun fights of the last couple of years.