Leigh Wood lost her WBA featherweight world title after being knocked out by Mexico’s Mauricio Lara in the seventh round at Nottingham.
Wood, 31, led all three judges’ scoreboards in a thrilling contest at Motorpoint Arena, but was knocked down by a brilliant left hook and his coach, Ben Davison, dropped out. the.
Wood suffered a nasty cut near his left eye after an accidental head-on collision late in the first round and boxed brilliantly before 24-year-old Lara delivered the knock.
Lara delivered an explosive right hook in the second round, knocking Woods’ leg down, but the champion responded with some big hits of his own in the third round.
Wood was hurt again by a Mexican left-right combination early in the fourth round, but once again the Englishman dropped deep to close the round on a strong note.
Lara was clearly wounded by a shot to the body in the fifth round and was caught with another heavy mix before being reeled on the rope in the sixth round by a huge Wood right cross.
But just as the partisan crowd felt Wood was being measured by a dangerous opponent, Lara, who inflicted the first defeat of her career against IBF featherweight world champion Josh Warrington, connected with a Beautiful left hook.
Wood passed the count but was clearly wobbly and his corner hit hard.
He won the belt by defeating China’s Xu Can in the final round in 2021 and repeated the feat against Michael Conlan last March in The Ring magazine’s match of the year.
