RESULTS: MAURICIO LARA COMES FROM BEHIND, STOPS LEIGH WOOD IN SEVEN ROUNDS

By: Jay Calderon‍

On Saturday at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England, and live on DAZN, Mauricio Lara came from behind on the cards, stopping Leigh Wood in the seventh frame, picking up the WBA Featherweight gold.

In the opening frame, Wood started off sharp with the jab, landing a decent hook off the back of that work. Though, a clash of heads opened up a cut on Wood. Lara picked up the pace towards the end of the frame.

Wood scored with a hook around the guard in the second, but Lara, after complaining it was on the back of the head, took it well enough. In the last minute of the frame, Lara was letting his hands go well, and scored with left and right hooks, both to the body and to the head. Wood appeared shaken multiple times before the bell stopped the action.

Wood came back well in the third, trying to create some distance and keep Lara at bay. A few times, Wood was able to land decent shots as Lara either sat back or rushed in, making it tricky for Lara to attack.

Lara started the fourth with a solid right hand, left hook, but Wood took the shots well enough. Wood returned the favor a minute later, with a solid right hand, and a follow-up flurry. The pair traded left hooks in the final minute. 

In the fifth, the better overall seemed to come from Wood, who landed a body blow that seemed to trouble Lara momentarily. The Mexican had a relatively slow round following the blow. In the sixth, Lara came back and started off with a big right hand. Wood came back with a right hand of his own soon thereafter. Then another at the two minute mark. The best work from Lara came again in the last 20 seconds.

In the seventh, Wood was doing so well with the jab, landing at will and keeping Lara at bay. However, in the final 30 seconds, the pair traded left hooks and Wood went down hard. While he beat the count, the corner of Wood opted to throw in the towel, awarding Lara the stoppage win.

While it could be argued that Wood should have been given the last few seconds of the round and the minute after to recover. However, he seemed rather out of sorts, even protesting the stoppage.

Time of the stoppage was 2:54 of the seventh, making Lara the new WBA Featherweight titlist. Wood was well ahead on the cards at the time of the stoppage. 

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In the co-featured bout of the evening, British Jr. Welterweight titlist Dalton Smith decisioned a very durable Billy Allington over twelve frames.

Smith was in total control for much of the fight, with his power and superior skills simply too much for Allington to overcome. Smith had his man hurt multiple times, even dropping Allington in the eighth, but was never able to finish him off.

Allington survived well, moving and holding when on the inside. Smith seemed at times flustered, unable to find the combination to close the shows

Nonetheless, Smith managed wide scores in his favor, with tallies of 120-107 and 119-108 twice.

With the win, Smith improved to 14-0 with 10 stoppages, while Allington dropped to 10-2-4.
 

OTHER RESULTS:

Gary Cully def. Wilfredo Flores, 2TKO (Lightweight)

Diego Alberto Ruiz def. Gamal Yafai, 10UD (Jr. Featherweight)

Sam Maxwell def. Shaun Cooper, 6Points (Jr. Welterweight)

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