Somewhat over three months is all that has handed since a fateful night in Nottingham, when hometown favorite Wood boxed splendidly towards his ultra-dangerous challenger in entrance of a raucous crowd and led on all three judges scorecards, earlier than letting his focus slip for a split-second within the seventh spherical and paying the total worth as he was felled by a vicious left hook to the chin.
Trainer Ben Davison threw within the towel to forestall any additional punishment, with the hard-hitting and explosive Lara sensing extra fireworks as he grabbed the WBA belt at 126lbs to turn out to be a world champion for the primary time in his profession.
Wood was left to rue his pricey error, however rapidly set about planning to earn again the title he gained with an upset of Xu Can in 2021 and defended efficiently in an exhilarating win over Michael Conlan, whereas Lara continued his ugly feud with Josh Warrington after allegedly spitting at his former opponent at ringside.
The stakes are very excessive certainly on an enormous evening in a energetic featherweight division, with Conlan additionally difficult Luis Alberto Lopez - who squeezed previous Warrington on factors in December - for his IBF gold in Belfast.
Lara vs Wood 2 takes place on the AO Arena in Manchester on a bumper evening of boxing on Saturday May 27, 2023 - the identical evening as Lopez vs Conlan and the WBO cruiserweight title conflict between Lawrence Okolie and Chris Billam-Smith in Bournemouth.
The primary undercard is because of begin at 7pm BST, with primary occasion ring walks anticipated at round 10pm as issues stand. As ever, these timings are topic to alter relying on the size of the sooner bouts.
On Saturday’s undercard, Jack Catterall makes his Matchroom debut, whereas Terri Harper defends her WBA super-welterweight title every week later than deliberate. Harper now faces former two-weight world champion Ivana Habazin of Croatia, having seen Cecila Braekhus pull out of their scheduled bout on the Katie Taylor-Chantelle Cameron undercard in Dublin as a result of sickness.
The vacant English welterweight title is up for grabs as Danny Ball meets Jamie Robinson, whereas Campbell Hatton appears to be like for skilled win quantity 12. William Crolla, the youthful brother of former WBA light-weight champion Anthony, additionally makes his professional debut early on in his hometown.
Mauricio Lara vs Leigh Wood 2
Jack Catterall vs Darragh Foley
Terri Harper vs Ivana Habazin
Danny Ball vs Jamie Robinson
Aaron Bowen vs Aljaz Venko
Campbell Hatton vs Michal Bulik
Aqib Fiaz vs Costin Ion
William Crolla vs Joe Hardy
TV channel: Lara vs Wood 2 is being broadcast dwell by way of sport streaming service to DAZN, which is now out there by way of Sky channel 429 within the UK.
Live stream: DAZN subscribers may catch the motion on-line by way of the web site or app. A subscription to DAZN at the moment begins at £9.99 monthly within the UK.
Wood obtained his gameplan virtually spot on for six rounds towards Lara again in February, irritating the heavy-handed Mexican regardless of a nasty minimize sustained early on following a conflict of heads.
Though he was harm a few instances, he got here firing again and put Lara in bother twice as an excellent bout wore on, earlier than leaving his defences crucially open within the seventh as he tried to throw a left hook and obtained smashed with one from his rival as a substitute.
To ask Wood to combat like that once more, however for 12 rounds this time, appears a really tall order. Lara is such a harmful and big-hitting opponent that you simply simply can not lose focus for one iota of a second with out paying the value.
If it goes to the playing cards then Wood will win, however in actuality we're predicting that issues will play out equally to the primary combat, with Lara being annoyed for intervals earlier than uncorking his devastating knockout energy as soon as once more within the center to late rounds.
Lara to win by knockout.
Weigh-ins for Lara vs Wood 2 happen in Manchester on Friday afternoon. Be positive to verify again in then for the outcomes from the scales.
Lara to win: 1/3
Wood to win: 12/5
Draw: 16/1
Lara to win by KO/TKO: 4/9
Wood to win by KO/TKO: 13/2
Lara to win by factors or determination: 9/1
Wood to win by factors or determination: 4/1
Odds by way of Betfair (topic to alter).
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