Leigh Wooden (27-3, 16 KOs) reclaimed his world title with a unanimous resolution victory over Mauricio Lara (26-3-1, 19 KOs) on Saturday in Manchester, England. The win comes solely three months after he misplaced his title to Lara in a seventh spherical knockout. Of their first assembly, Wooden was main on the scorecards earlier than being dropped in spherical seven. Even supposing Wooden bought up and that the spherical was almost over, his nook threw within the towel.
Wooden was a lot better defensively within the rematch as he scored a knockdown and boxed to a large unanimous resolution over Lara. The title was solely on the road for Wooden because it was deemed unsafe for Lara to aim to make the featherweight restrict by the BBBofC.
In a put up combat interview, Wooden defined that he has “solely two fights left.” On the age of 34, it will be protected to imagine that he’s nearing the tip of his profession. Consideration now turns in the direction of who he might face subsequent. Large Combat Weekend seems to be at three potential opponents for Wooden’s subsequent combat.
Josh Warrington
Wooden expressed curiosity in having a combat with former champion Warrington (31-2-1, 8 KOs). Each males are with Matchroom Boxing, making this a simple bout to make. Warrington is coming off of a majority resolution loss to Luis Alberto Lopez, to whom he misplaced his IBF featherweight title. At present, the WBA have him sixth of their rankings. Promoter Eddie Hearn has additionally spoken a few potential combat between the 2 and appears eager to make it occur.
Luis Alberto Lopez
Along with a Warrington combat, Wooden additionally expressed curiosity in preventing Lopez (28-2, 16 KOs) in a unification bout. Lopez fought on the identical day as Wooden, knocking out Michael Conlan in spherical 5. A bout between the 2 would unify the WBA and IBF featherweight titles. Though Lopez is with High Rank Boxing, he has fought on a Matchroom Boxing card previously which noticed him defeat Warrington. Lopez might see himself again within the UK for an additional combat ought to a deal be labored out.
Otabek Kholmatov
Kholmatov (11-0, 10 KOs) is an Uzbek featherweight with a primary rating with the WBA. His most up-to-date bout befell in Newcastle, England and noticed him defeating Thomas Patrick Ward by fifth spherical knockout. Kholmatov started his skilled profession in August of 2021. By January, he had a file of 9-0 with all fights ending in knockout. All 9 bouts befell in both the USA, Colombia, or Dominican Republic. Wins over Ward and Andranik Grigorian helped set up him because the WBA’s primary contender. The WBA might order a combat between him and Wooden because of Kholmatov’s rating. Ought to the opposite two bouts not come to fruition, Wooden might discover himself going through Kholmatov.
