Who is Leigh Wood: Fight record, stats, next bout and more
Leigh Wood will return to the ring after over eighteen months to challenge Anthony Cacace for the IBO super featherweight title at the Nottingham Arena this weekend.
Despite this being Wood's first fight at the super-featherweight limit, a win over Cacace would position him for a shot at one of the 'big four' boxing titles.
But it has been far from straight forward for the Nottingham fighter, who has had to pull himself through hard times and setbacks to climb his way to the top table of boxing.
Stats
Total fights: 31
Record: 28-3 (17 KOs)
Rounds: 170
Height: 5' 7'
Reach: 67'
Early Career
Wood made his debut in 2011 and worked his way to a shot at the British super-bantamweight title three years later, suffering a sixth-round knockout loss to Gavin McDonnell.
This early setback forced him to re-build, eventually claiming the Midlands Area featherweight title by knocking out Lee Glover in two rounds in 2016.
Despite this, Wood was still fighting four- and six-round fights in Midlands small halls before he got his shot at the Commonwealth featherweight title in 2018.
After claiming the Commonwealth title and defending it, Wood made the next step up and claimed the WBO European title, beating Ryan Doyle in 2019.
Stumbling once again, 'Leigh-thal' lost his European title in 2020 to James Dickens by majority decision. It looked as though it was one step forward and two steps back for Wood – having to bounce back and win the British featherweight title against Reece Mould the next year.
World titles
In 2021, Wood would receive a career-defining opportunity to challenge for a world title.
At the Matchroom HQ Garden in Brentwood, Can Xu's WBA featherweight title was on the line. Wood was a massive underdog coming into the fight, but claimed a dramatic twelfth-round stoppage and his first world title after ten years.
But defending a world title is another thing, and Wood's first defence was against Olympic Bronze medallist Michael Conlan in a bout in Nottingham in 2023.
Symptomatic of his career, the fight was slipping away from Wood who was dropped in the first round and outboxed for the rest, but he stayed in the fight until the end – rallying in the final round to knock out Conlan in The Ring's 2022 fight of the year.
This was not the end of the drama for the Midlands man who suffered a knockout loss of his own against Mauricio Lara in 2023. Five months later, he won an immediate rematch to reclaim his WBA title with a unanimous decision.
Woods final fight at featherweight was against his Leeds rival, Josh Warrington, and it was another comeback victory. Down on all three scorecards, he picked a perfect hook followed up by a blistering five-shot combination to put Warrington down and force a referee stoppage.
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