Wood vs Warrington Predictions: Leigh-Thal to take out former champ

There is another superb Betfred sponsored fight taking place this weekend, as Nottingham’s Leigh Wood takes on Leeds’ Josh Warrington for the WBA Featherweight crown. We’ve previewed the main event and given you our breakdown on what we expect to happen. 

There will be a truly hostile atmosphere in Sheffield Arena on Saturday night, with promoter Eddie Hearn buying into the football fanbases of these two British fighters.

Leigh Wood (27-3-0(16KO)) and his Nottingham Forest backing will take half of the arena, with Josh Warrington’s Leeds United fanbase (31-2-1(8KO)) taking the other 50%.

It’s pretty unusual for a boxing crowd to be segregated and the promotional video is certainly buying into that tribal football crowd as the main selling point. Fingers crossed it doesn’t break into anything unsavoury.

As regards the actual fight, it’s an intriguing one between two of the best domestic small men over recent years.

32-year-old Warrington has been in the British boxing public’s eye for a long time and has been in some tremendous fights. Has he hit his ceiling and on the decline? Or, does he have one last great performance in the bank?

Wood may be three years older but he certainly seems to be a fighter on the up and his masterclass in regaining his WBA belt from Mauricio Lara in May, showed the Nottingham man still has plenty to offer.

One gets the feeling that if Wood does defend his title here, it could be the end of the road for the ‘Leeds Warrior’ but for the victor, a potential fight at Super-Featherweight against another British World Champion – Joe Cordina, could be on the cards.

Where and when is the fight taking place?

The fight is happening at Utilita Arena in Sheffield, on Saturday 7th October and will be broadcast live and exclusively on DAZN in the UK.

The event is a Eddie Hearn promotion for Matchroom Boxing, with the show starting at 7pm and the main ring walk due to take place at around 10pm UK time.

What does the full fight card look like?

• MAIN EVENT: Leigh Wood vs Josh Warrington –  WBA Featherweight Title
• Terri Harper vs Cecilia Braekhus – WBA and WBO Super-Welterweight Title
• Kieron Conway vs Linus Udofia
• Hopey Price vs Connor Coghill
• Junaid Bostan vs Corey McCulloch
• Nico Leivars vs Ryan Walker
• Cameron Vuong vs Engel Gomez
• Koby McNamara vs Francisco Rodriguez

(subject to change)

Who’s the favourite?

Betfred have the champion as a big 4/9 favourite for this domestic dust-up. Warrington is a 15/8 shot, with the draw at 16/1.

What’s been said?

Anthony Crolla met with Dom McGuinness on Betfred’s Lightweight Boxing show to break down how the fight might go down.

He thinks the fight will either be won by Leigh wood in rounds 1-6 or for Warrington to win in rounds 7-12. The selection has been boosted by the Betfred traders.

The pre-fight press conference was held on Thursday afternoon and the two fighters gave their throughts.

“I don’t think the power will be the key to victory but I’ve got it if I need it!

It’s three fights in eight months and people might call me greedy but I’m coming up to the end of my career and I want to stay busy.

There’s gonna be a time approaching when I’m not gonna have that choice and I love boxing, so it’s another busy year.

I could’ve gona back in with Lara 10 minutes after the fight, I knew the mistakes I’d made.

I’ve had a little holiday and then I went straight back into camp, I’m ready.

This will be a night that goes down in History…”

Leigh Wood

 

“Everyone’s already written me off, that I’m finished and that gives me a bit between my teeth.

I dominated the Kiko Martinez fight and then dominated the second half of the Lopez fight and look what he’s gone on to do

I feel hungrier than I’ve been for a long time, my head is in a very good place and I’m very focused.

The only time I’ve lost in the past it’s been a mindset rather than a physical thing.

My knockouts have come at Championship level, I save them for when it matters the most. I’m very confident this doesn’t see the final bell”

Josh Warrington

Fight to go the distance NO – 7/4

Both men have talked about ending this one early and given the atmosphere in Sheffield, one gets the feeling this fight will be fought at boiling point.

With both fighters going at an intense work rate, fatigue will kick in later in the fight and I think that we will see an early end.

Each fighter has already tasted a knock out loss, with Mauricio Lara stopping both and Gavin McDonell also stopping Leigh Wood back in 2014, so both can be hurt.

Leigh Wood to win by KO/TKO – 3/1

‘Leigh-thal’s KO record is far superior to Warrington’s and is a pretty impressive one for a featherweight.

The Nottingham man is also the more skilled fighter and whereas Warrington just relies on sheer intensity and work rate, Wood can fight in different styles.

The 35-year-old has won seven of his last victories via stoppage so certainly knows how to finish his man, once hurt.

I don’t envisage the “Leeds Warrior’ seeing the final bell in South Yorkshire.

Leigh Wood to win in rounds 7-9 – 13/2

Doubling down on my previous pick, I expect Wood to take control of the fight from around round 4 onwards and then start to stamp his authority and hurt his opponent.

Wood normally picks up his knockout victories in the second half of the fight and Warrington is certainly durable and brave.

With that in mind I think we will see a stoppage between rounds seven and nine, with perhaps the referee or his corner calling an end to the fight.

Enjoy the fight!

*All prices correct at the time of writing.