The UK boxing community is in for a treat this weekend. The talented Leigh Wood is headlining the amazing event defending his WBA featherweight belt against Mauricio Lara. The hometown hero, Wood, will be enjoying the fans packing Nottingham Arena.
Read further for an in-depth betting breakdown of this fight and for the final Wood vs. Lara betting prediction.
Leigh Wood vs. Mauricio Lara Information
Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara
Location: Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, UK.
Date and Time: February 18, 2023, 3:00 PM ET.
How to Watch: DAZN
Leigh Wood vs. Mauricio Lara Last Fight Record
Wood hasn’t made the walk into the ring since March 2022, when he defeated Michael Conlon for the WBA featherweight belt via TKO.
Lara won his last fight in October via KO over Jose Sanmartin.
Leigh Wood vs. Mauricio Lara Betting Analysis
Leigh Wood
Wood is going to enjoy his big hometown show this weekend, where he is set to defend his WBA title. Even with two losses as blemishes on his record, Wood has beaten the likes of Conlan and Xu in his last two bouts. This proves that he belongs at the top of the division and is a worthy champion.
Wood has 26 career victories and 16 KOs while also being KO’d once in his career. He is a much more traditional UK boxer and will need to stay focused and disciplined against the great punching skill of Lara.
Mauricio Lara
Lara is a tough, young, aggressive Mexican fighter that is red-hot as of late and has earned a chance at his first world title. The 24-year-old is unbeaten in his last 15 bouts, along with 12 of those fights ending in TKO/KO in his favor.
The heavy puncher will surely look to take control of the center of the ring and land his vicious combinations on the champion. There is no mystery that Lara will look to knock Wood out on Saturday night. Lara has been much more active in the ring than Wood in recent years.
Updates
This bout is officially for the WBA world featherweight championship.
Leigh Wood vs. Mauricio Lara Betting Preview
If you want to start betting on boxing, this is a solid fight to begin with. We have the challenger, Lara, as the -250 betting favorite over Leigh Wood in his hometown. This is an interesting line, given how young Lara is and with him going up against a seasoned vet in Wood.
The top rank boxing schedule in the featherweight division is not as dense as the lightweight division, but the No.2 ranked featherweight in the world gets his title shot this weekend. Will the youngster be able to show up for the biggest fight of his career in front of a hostile crowd?
Before you get into making boxing picks, make sure you do all the proper research for any particular matchup. In this title matchup, we can see that Wood almost has ten years of life over Lara, but about the same number of pro fights. This shows that Lara has been much more active and has knocked a lot of guys out recently.
The oddsmakers have Lara over Wood in this for a reason. He is a violent puncher that comes out aggressive and stays aggressive throughout the whole fight. It will be interesting to see if he can stay on his game for 12 rounds.
Wood showed how tough he is in his last bout when Conlan dropped him in the first round, only for Wood to get back and hurt Conlan all the way in the 11th. He finished him in the 12th round. Wood is not getting the respect he deserves for this one.
Leigh Wood vs. Mauricio Lara Betting Prediction
The boxing predictions for close fights like this are always much more fun when you are used to seeing cards with ridiculous odds all over the place. The best bet for this championship fight this weekend has to be the Wood moneyline.
Leigh Wood is a very solid boxer with world championship experience. His lack of activity in the last year is worrisome, but to think that he wouldn’t be ready for this dangerous 24-year-old Mexican puncher is crazy.
Wood has said in the media that he is going to meet Lara in the middle of the ring and exchange with him. This might not be the best idea with the power and speed that Lara has, but he also looks a bit wild in those exchanges.
A disciplined and patient, Leigh Wood is a dangerous one this weekend against Mauricio Lara. The underdog moneyline looks tasty for a bet this weekend, and it will be the bet to make.
The final Wood vs Lara betting prediction is that Wood gets hurt early in a wild exchange but then listens to his corner and out-boxes Lara for the remaining 12 rounds and wins a razor-close decision.
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