On February 18, 2023, Leigh Wood (26-2, 16 KOs), the featherweight WBA champion, defends his title against Mexican challenger, Mauricio Lara (25-2-1, 18 KOs).
Leigh Wood is coming in to the fight on a 3-fight win streak with a 57% KO rate; his last fight was a 12th round TKO victory over Michael Conlan, 11 months and 6 days ago. Mauricio Lara is on a 2-fight win streak with a 64% KO rate, with his last fight being a 3rd round TKO win over José Sanmartin, 3 months and 27 days ago.
The winning odds are at 87.9-12.1 in favor of Mauricio Lara. Leigh Wood may have moments of brilliance during the fight but it won't be enough for him to get the victory.
Mauricio Lara stopped the champion via TKO in the 7th round of the 12-round world-title fight, winning the first world title of his career, and is crowned the new WBA featherweight champion. Lara improves his record to 26-2-1 (19 KOs), while Wood adds a loss to his record at 26-3.