With the odds stacked against him, Leigh Wood seeks one more comeback

I was knocked out over fifty years ago playing football. I can remember the seconds leading up to the darkness. 

The suddenness is startling. As the saying goes, it’s the ones that you don’t see that can cause problems. 

It’s hard to imagine being knocked out in a fight and taking on the same guy three months later. They did that stuff in the old days. Now it’s hard to get a rematch in the same year. 

Brit box killer Mauricio Lara brutally knocked WBA featherweight titleholder Leigh Wood out in February. OK, not totally out, but after rising, eyes glassy and staggering, knocked out. Not himself. Like a guy who has had one too many. 
 
Wood is fighting the dangerous Lara in a rematch this Saturday. Only Wood can walk out of the ring a champion, as Lara lost his title on the scales today. 

That’s guts and belief in yourself. Wood knows his career is on the line. It’s must win. If that happens, he’ll fight his friend Josh Warrington. If not, at 34, Wood should take a leave. 

I’m fond of Leigh Wood - even his funky haircut. Wood is the comeback kid. A late bloomer. Hardscrabble.

He was stopped in 2014 and written off by many. Wood beat the man who beat the man and avenged an amateur defeat. In 2019, he captured the Commonwealth featherweight title.

Wood lost his Commonwealth belt three years ago. He won the British featherweight title a year later. 

He got a shot at a world title and made good - upsetting Xu Can. His initial defense was against Michael Conlon in Nottingham. The first round was a disaster for Wood. Conlon put everything behind an overhand left. 

Boom.

Wood collapsed on his back. He got up on weak legs, but his heart was pumping. 

Though losing most rounds that came after, Wood battled. Conlon couldn’t miss with his left. Wood was taking four to land one. Somehow, he was getting back into the fight. He pushed Conlon harder, though buzzed by counter shots in rounds eight and nine. 

Conlon almost ended matters in round 10, but the effort tuckered him out. A few minutes later, Wood attacked. A left floored a shocked Conlon. Wood was relentless. 

In the 12th and final round, he forced Conlon into the ropes and unleashed a wicked right that knocked Conlon unconscious and through the ropes. A few hours after being knocked out, Conlon asked for a rematch. 

Wood did the same thing after Lara knocked him into tomorrow land. Lara will enter the ring even more confidently than in February. Wood said recently he’s seen himself getting floored by Lara at least, “40 times” during lulls in training. 

Face it and move on, I guess. But can he?

Sure, but what a mountain it is to climb. 

If he loses, it won’t be because of his heart.