NEWS: LEIGH WOOD EYES JOSH WARRINGTON STADIUM FIGHT, MICHAEL CONLAN REMATCH

By: Jay Calderon

In one of the most inspiring stories of 2022, Leigh Wood emerged as the winner of the Fight of the Year, and ultimately as a world champion.

After picking up a fringe version of the title at Featherweight with a stoppage win over Xu Can in July of 2021, Wood came from off the deck to stop previously-unbeaten Michael Conlan in his first defense of the gold in 2022's Fight of the Year. Since the Conlan victory, Wood has been promoted to full champion by the sanctioning body.

It's quite the story for one of boxing's perennial underdogs.

Now, heading into the second defense of his gold, Wood once again finds himself the underdog, taking on Mexico's Mauricio Lara on February 18 at the Nottingham Arena, live on DAZN. Once again, Wood will head into the ring more than a 2-1 underdog in a tough, potentially grueling battle that many expect him to lose.

Still, the fighter known for defying the odds has his sights set on even bigger clashes than the Lara encounter.

Originally, many expected Wood to battle fellow Brit Josh Warrington in 2022, when both had portions of the 126 pound title. However, Wood was scheduled to make a voluntary defense against Lara, and when Warrington dropped his gold to Luis Alberto Lopez in December, plans obviously fell through.

Once Wood recovered from the injury that postponed the original Lara fight date, the clash with Mauricio was back on. Still, Wood feels a bout between he and Warrington could sell out Nottingham Forest FC's City Ground Stadium down the line.

"Let's just see what happens but Warrington can help me achieve my dream of headlining at the City Ground," Wood told the BBC. "The fight with Warrington is still a massive fight and there's a rivalry between Nottingham and Leeds (where Warrington is from). He's done a lot in boxing."

Another potential encounter could be a rematch with Conlan. Conlan is currently in talks to face the aforementioned Lopez for the portion of the title he snatched from Warrington. If Wood manages to get beyond Lara, a unification rematch with Conlan would certainly be an exciting fight as well.

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