Leigh Wood vs Josh Warrington – Who wins this featherweight battle?
Leigh-thal Leigh vs Warrior Warrington
On October 7, 2023, Nottingham’s ‘Leigh-thal’ Leigh Wood (27-3, 16KO) will defend his WBA World featherweight title to ‘Leeds Warrior’ Josh Warrington (31-2-1, 8KO) at the Sheffield Arena, live on DAZN.
The two-time world featherweight champion makes the first defence of his WBA belt having regained it from Mauricio Lara in May, just three months after being stopped in the seventh round by the hard-hitting Mexican, avenging a devastating defeat with a resilient and professional mindset.
The defending champion, 35 from Gedling, Nottinghamshire, fell short at British level twice before earlier in his career, but in his last five fights, now trained by Ben Davison, he has become British champion on his second attempt and World champion twice.
WBA #7 Josh Warrington is also a former British and two-time world champion. His first stint was highly impressive, winning the IBF strap from Lee Selby in 2018, then defending against Carl Frampton and Kid Galahad when both were a real force in boxing still. His third defence to lesser competition Sofiane Takoucht ended in a quick second-round demolition job.
But then his impressive 30-fight streak came to an end against unheralded Mexican menace Mauricio Lara when they fought behind closed doors in 2021. Undefeated Warrington was smashed from pillar to post by the powerful visitor, suffering a knockdown early in the fight, in the fourth round, and should have been stopped then, but he bravely fought on to receive another five rounds of unnecessary punishment until the ninth round finish.
They rematched seven months later but it was a disappointing, unconclusive end as they clashed heads in the second stanza and a cut sustained by Lara forced the bout to be stopped on a technical decision draw.
Warrington managed to regain his IBF prize with a strong seventh round stoppage over defending champion Kiko Martinez in 2022. As challenger, he was dominant, unrelenting and aggressive, backing up the champion from the very first minute, which resulted in a first round knockdown, his short potent hooks doing all the damage.
However, he conceded it to Luis Alberto Lopez in his first defence nine months later in December last year, meaning he has only won once in four years.
Wood has won four from his last five fights and avenged the one defeat during that time, so, in terms of form, these two are at opposite ends of the scale.
Fight Preview
Wood likes to fight at long range, where he holds his lead left arm slightly lowered and outstretched so he can paw, measure, feint and tap with his jab to keep opponents off their rhythm and at bay. It’s a useful weapon, which is why he uses it so often and to it’s full advantage. He keeps his right hand by his chin, but he’s very reactive to raise both hands high when the time comes.
He possesses decent footwork, is very calm and composed, calculated when he’s looking to set up his shots, and has great judgement of range. He keeps his power throughout fights, with most of his knockouts coming in the later rounds, from nine onwards.
Inside fighter Warrington has a very compact style, holding his gloves high as he persistently aims to get into close range to throw short hooks. He is rugged and tough and a little dirty too. He causes a lot of cuts with the use of his head in fights when he leans in too close with his head bowed low. He always comes off fresh in head clashes while his opponents get nicked.
Warrington has always been known and respected for his busy style and big engine. He deserves praise for his inside game too, he’s very cute and hard to match on the inside. He outworked the superior Carl Frampton to cause the upset, but he isn’t known for his power.
In this matchup, Warrington will be aiming to close the gap between them to reel off short hooks and uppercuts in volume when in close, but the champion, Wood, will be looking to dictate the pace from range behind his longer reach and height. That said, both these boxers are equal in measurements at 5’7” tall and a 67” reach, but disparate in stature, with Wood choosing to stand up tall and elevated, while Warrington is hunched over and closed up tight.
Betting Odds (Betway Sports)
The champion, Leigh Wood, is currently favourite to win 2/5 and challenger Josh Warrington is the slight outsider at 21/10. The odds for a draw are quite low at 14/1.
Wood is also 11/4 to win by knockout and 4/1 to win during 7-12. Warrington is considered far less likely to win in those final rounds at 11/1.
Prediction
Warrington looked impressive in his last win against Kiko Martinez, but the Spaniard was 36-years-old and did retire shortly afterwards. That was Warrington’s only win in his last four fights and I thought Lopez beat him a lot more convincingly than the mixed decision result that was given.
For me, I think his win over Kiko will become his last hurrah. I think he peaked when he reached 30-0 before lockdown. A third defeat here within five fights could spell the end of his career, because back to back defeats for the first time will be truly difficult to come back from.
I don’t think Warrington has the power to hurt Wood, who has just completed 12 rounds with a very heavy-handed opponent, Lara, albeit a bit subdued with some weight issues. Warrington is also tough and brave and took a lot of punishment from Lara in their first fight but wouldn’t quit, so it will take a lot for either man to knock out the other.
I believe Wood will keep the fight long and sensible for a full 12 rounds to win by unanimous decision. If he does win by stoppage, then it will most likely come in the later rounds around 9-12.
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