With Craig Daly: Eddie Hearn agrees with trainer Ben Davison’s decision to withdraw WBA featherweight champion Leah Wood (26-3, 16 KOs) from the fight after she was hit hard by a left hook from the knockout artist Mauricio. Lara (26-2-1, 19 KOs) on Saturday night at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England.
Hearn notes that Wood was on his feet after getting back to his feet from the knockdown in the seventh, and he thinks Lara would have had enough time in the nine seconds left in the round to land a dozen punches, only to land one with the state Leah was in at the time to finish him off.
Wood looked like he was on shaky feet after getting back to his feet from a devastating left hook from Lara. Hearn was surprised the referee allowed the fight to continue because Wood appeared to be gone.
Davison was watching closely and saw the condition Wood was in when he won the count. He knew that if he had allowed the fight to continue, Wood would have been knocked out in the same way that Emilio Sanchez it was from Lara in their race last year.
Sanchez was in the same situation as Wood after being dropped by Lara, and was immediately knocked out and badly injured by a powerful left hook.
Sanchez looked like an accordion the way he was bent backwards with his legs under him in painful fashion. When a fighter is so wounded against Lara, there is little chance of recovery.
The rematch clause that Wood has allows him to get a second chance against Lara and he can start from scratch and make sure he doesn’t get too aggressive like he did tonight.
Wood got a little greedy
“It was an incredible match. Lara started really well, hurt Leigh early in the match and then Leigh had the perfect match from the third round. I gave him every round after that. He just boxed beautifully,” Eddie Hearn told Matchroom Boxing in the post-fight interview after Mauricio Lara knocked out Leigh Wood on Saturday night in Nottingham, England.
“He hurt Lara repeatedly, wore him down to the body. Lara looked like he was on the verge of a foul as he couldn’t get hold of Leigh Wood and just when Leigh Wood looked to be gaining confidence and feeling, Mauricio Lara was hurt and just tried to step on the gas. a little too much.
“He got a little too greedy and traded left hooks [in the seventh]. Mauricio Lara said in the build-up to this fight, ‘If you go out on me, the fight’s over,’ and that’s exactly what happened,” Hearn said.
Ben Davison made the right decision
“I think sometimes it’s easy to say after the fact,” Hearn said when asked about his thoughts on Ben Davison throwing in the towel to get Wood out in the seventh. “What was left was eight or nine seconds in the lap. That’s more than enough time for Mauricio Lara to land twelve damaging shots, and it would only take one.
“Leigh was completely upright. He managed to leave the ring on his feet with a rematch clause, and if the fight had continued, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t have left on his feet. It’s all very well for people to be brave, ‘Let it go, let it go’, but at the end of the day, Ben Davison has the hardest job in the world to protect his fighter and Leigh Wood was not able to continue in this fight.
“I was actually surprised the referee allowed the fight to continue because he was on his feet, and that was a tough decision, and it was probably a 50-50 for the referee. Ben Davison would have looked at Mauricio Lara and been ready to pounce, and only one shot would have been needed to end his career, so I’m glad to see him safe in the dressing room as well,” Hearn said.