Leigh Wood Beats Mauricio Lara; Jack Catterall And Terri Harper Get Solid Wins
No longer a former champion, Leigh “Leigh-thal” Wood (27-3, 16KO) regained the WBA featherweight title after cruising to a victory in the rematch against Mauricio Lara (26-4, 16KO) in front of a roaring hometown crowd.
Before the fight, drama was amidst as Lara was three pounds overweight, which resulted in him getting stripped of the title. Wood was still in a position to win the title, but his trainer was hesitant to allow the fight to go on. Well, Leigh-thal quickly put all concerns to rest at the opening bell as he boxed beautifully off the front foot behind a stiff jab, knocking Lara down in the second round.
The former champion fought like a man possessed and remained focused throughout the fight. He couldn’t miss with the right hand, peppering Lara with it from all angles. In the championship rounds, Wood started going to the body with brutal hooks against the weary Mexican. As the final bell sounded, it was clear he had won the fight.
One Judge saw it 116-111, with two judges scoring it 118-109 in favor of Leigh-thal. 3Kings Boxing had it 119-108 for Wood.
JACK CATTERALL EASILY DOMINATES DARRAGH FOLEY
Junior welterweight contender Jack “El Gato” Catterall (27-1, 13KO) put on a dominating performance after being out of the ring for over a year against Darragh Foley (22-5-1, 10KO).
Catterall was in control of the fight at the start of the bell. He worked the jab to perfection at mid-range, blinding his opponent before landing straight left hands. Moreover, his movement and defense were top notch as he landed at will and got out of range to avoid any return-fire.
El Gato was landing with pinpoint accuracy as he dropped Foley twice with different variations of the left hand in rounds seven and nine. He was deducted a point in round seven for hitting Foley while on one knee, but in his defense, his opponent got back up, and the referee was out of position.
Nonetheless, Catterall closed the show strong, punishing Foley to the body, and landed more brutal left hands until the final bell. The judges saw it 99-88, 98-89, and 97-90 in favor of El Gato. 3Kings Boxing agrees with the first scorecard.
TERRI HARPER PERFORMS WELL IN TITLE DEFENSE AGAINST IVANA HABAZIN
WBA junior middleweight champion Terri “Belter” Harper (14-1-1, 6KO) retained the title against late replacement and former welterweight world champion Ivana Habazin (21-5, 7KO).
Belter quickly came out looking to establish the jab and used her footwork early in the fight. She had success fighting at mid-range by taking advantage of her opponent’s lack of head movement.
Habazin started coming on in the middle rounds, scoring with the straight right hand. Moreover, she hurt the champion with body shots and nicely-timed counters as the pace slowed down a little.
The champion turned it back in her favor by attacking the body and landing combination punches as Habazin started to tire from the pressure. She fought strong down the stretch, mixing up her attack as the final round came to a close. One judge saw it 98-92 as two had it 97-93 in favor of Harper.
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