Leigh Wood (boxer)

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Leigh Wood (born 1 August 1988) is a British professional boxer who has held the WBA (Regular) featherweight title since July 2021. At regional level he held the British featherweight title from February to August 2021 and the Commonwealth featherweight title in 2019.^[1]

As of August 2021, Wood is ranked as the world's fifth best active featherweight by BoxRec,^[2] and tenth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.^[3]

Professional career[]

Wood fought Gavin McDonnell for the British super bantamweight title on 22 February 2014 but loss after the fight was stopped in the 6th round due to Wood being stunned and unable to defend himself. Wood put on an impressive performance and was in control of the fight after winning the first 5 rounds, but prior to the fight Wood had to lose weight for himself to make the weight limit for the fight and after a few rounds Wood was becoming tired.^{[citation needed]} After the loss to McDonnell, Wood had a comeback fight against Martin Mubiru and put in good performance and earned a 3rd-round TKO.^{[citation needed]}

Then after 3 more fights and 3 more wins at featherweight, he stepped up in class to box the man who took his former foe to a draw Josh Wale in a British title eliminator. Wood outboxed Josh Wale for the majority of the fight finishing with last 2 of the 10 rounds with eye catching combinations and powerful right hands, winning the fight unanimously on all 3 scorecards.^{[citation needed]}

Wood's next fight was a redemption fight for the Midlands Area featherweight title against Lee Glover who beat Wood in the Amateurs 7 years prior.^{[citation needed]} Wood came out in the first round pot shooting and making Glover miss before landing some big punches before the bell. The second round went the same way, finally Wood stopping Glover with a big left and perfectly picked flurry of punches, sending Glover to the canvas and not making the count.^{[citation needed]}

On 6 July 2021, it was announced that Wood would challenge WBA (Regular) featherweight champion Xu Can in Brentwood, Essex on 31 July as part of Matchroom's Fight Camp.^[4] Despite being an 11/4 underdog,^[5] Wood outboxed the champion during periods of the fight, and prevailed with an upset victory via twelfth-round technical knockout.^[6]

Professional boxing record[]

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
27	Win	25–2	Xu Can	TKO	12 (12), 2:43	31 Jul 2021	Matchroom Headquarters, Brentwood, England	Won WBA (Regular) featherweight title
26	Win	24–2	Reece Mould	TKO	9 (12), 1:03	13 Feb 2021	The SSE Arena, London, England	Won vacant British featherweight title
25	Loss	23–2	Jazza Dickens	MD	10	21 Feb 2020	York Hall, London, England	Lost WBO European featherweight title; The Golden Contract: Featherweight – Semi-final
24	Win	23–1	David Oliver Joyce	TKO	9 (10), 2:23	4 Oct 2019	York Hall, London, England	Won WBO European featherweight title; The Golden Contract: Featherweight – Quarter-final
23	Win	22–1	Ryan Doyle	KO	10 (12), 1:34	10 May 2019	Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, England	Retained Commonwealth featherweight title
22	Win	21–1	Abraham Osei Bonsu	KO	2 (12), 2:43	2 Mar 2019	East of England Arena, Peterborough, England	Won vacant Commonwealth featherweight title
21	Win	20–1	Rafael Castillo	TKO	3 (6), 1:31	3 Mar 2018	Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, England
20	Win	19–1	Reynaldo Mora	PTS	6	25 Nov 2017	Harvey Hadden Sports Village, Nottingham, England
19	Win	18–1	Simas Volosinas	PTS	4	24 Jun 2017	Bingham Leisure Centre, Nottingham, England
18	Win	17–1	Lee Glover	TKO	2 (10), 1:06	26 Mar 2016	Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, England	Won vacant Midlands Area featherweight title
17	Win	16–1	Josh Wale	PTS	10	24 Oct 2015	Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, England
16	Win	15–1	Isaac Owusu	KO	4 (6), 0:35	25 Jul 2015	Derby Arena, Derby, England
15	Win	14–1	Laszio Fekete	TKO	1 (4), 3:00	28 Mar 2015	Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, England
14	Win	13–1	Janis Puksins	TKO	2 (6), 1:29	7 Mar 2015	Mares Leisure Centre, Nottingham, England
13	Win	12–1	Martin Mubiru	TKO	3 (8), 1:06	16 May 2014	Rushcliffe Arena, Nottingham, England
12	Loss	11–1	Gavin McDonnell	TKO	6 (12), 2:03	22 Feb 2014	Ice Arena, Hull, England	For vacant British super-bantamweight title
11	Win	11–0	Simas Volosinas	PTS	4	13 Dec 2013	Ice Sheffield, Sheffield, England
10	Win	10–0	Genilson de Jesus Santos	RTD	3 (10), 3:00	1 Nov 2013	Clifton Leisure Centre, Nottingham, England	Won vacant International Masters super-bantamweight title
9	Win	9–0	Ian Bailey	TKO	2 (10), 1:43	22 Jun 2013	Clifton Leisure Centre, Nottingham, England	Won vacant British Masters featherweight title
8	Win	8–0	Sid Razak	PTS	6	13 Apr 2013	Ponds Forge, Sheffield, England
7	Win	7–0	Kristian Laight	PTS	4	2 Feb 2013	East of England Arena, Peterborough, England
6	Win	6–0	Tibor Meszaros	TKO	1 (6), 1:59	8 Dec 2012	KC Sports Arena, Hull, England
5	Win	5–0	Dai Davies	PTS	4	17 Nov 2012	Capital FM Arena, Nottingham, England
4	Win	4–0	Chuck Jones	RTD	1 (4), 3:00	28 Sep 2012	Magna Centre, Rotherham, England
3	Win	3–0	Pavels Senkovs	PTS	4	18 Feb 2012	Magna Centre, Rotherham, England
2	Win	2–0	Ryan McNicol	PTS	4	12 Nov 2011	Event City, Manchester, England
1	Win	1–0	Chuck Jones	PTS	6	28 Oct 2011	Clifton Leisure Centre, Nottingham, England

References[]