So who's the best featherweight in the world?
On Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara, which answered some questions but asked a lot more.
(Photo: DAZN boxing)
Mauricio Lara was just starting to look mortal.
His featherweight title fight against Leigh Wood on Saturday in Nottingham had been pretty much as advertised through six rounds, with both fighters trading and looking to end the fight inside the distance. Though Lara clearly had the power advantage, he looked slow and wasn’t landing at the same clip as Wood.
But it only takes one shot, and Wood found that out the hard way when Lara landed a perfect left hook that sat Wood down immediately at the end of the 7th round. There were only 10 seconds left in the round, and Wood beat the count, but trainer Ben Davison tossed in the towel before the fight could restart. Controversial? Sure. But Lara is a massive puncher, and Wood looked out on his feet. That 10 seconds could have been brutal for Wood’s career and the rest of his life. It’s hard to say for sure, but it felt like the right call.
So what happens now? Wood has a rematch clause, and he’s likely to exercise it. Lara-Wood 2 will be highly anticipated. It’ll be an exciting fight, but it also might help sort out what’s quickly become a very messy top of the featherweight division.
It’s hard to make a compelling case for anyone to be the No. 1 featherweight right now. Rey Vargas looked good in winning the WBC title against Mark Magsayo, but he immediately went up to 130-pounds and looked not-so-good in losing a decision to O’Shaquie Foster for a vacant belt. Emmanuel Navarette looks like he’s moved up to super featherweight as well. Luis Alberto Lopez has the IBF belt after wading through fire to beat Josh Warrington in a fight Warrington probably should have been disqualified in about five different times.
If Wood needs time to recover or doesn’t want to fight Lara again right away, Matchroom will probably try to make a third fight between Lara and Warrington. Lara surprised everyone when he seemingly came out of nowhere to destroy Warrington in their first fight, then the much-anticipated rematch ended prematurely because of a nasty cut caused by a clash of heads. Lara would definitely be favored to beat Warrington at this stage, but I doubt he (or anyone else) is jumping to go fight Warrington in England. Lara and Warrington got into a dust-up after the fight, with Lara spitting at Warrington before the two were separated.
But hey, money talks, and if the money is there for Lara-Warrington 3, we might see it sooner rather than later. With wins over Warrington and Wood, Lara probably has the best resume at 126 pounds and really has the best case to be the top guy in the division, even though he only won his first world title this weekend.
It’s a wide-open division. In boxing, that either means there’s more onus on promoters and fighters to make unification fights and really see who the best fighter in the division is, or more time to “marinate” fights and try to build fighters independently. Let’s hope it’s the former.
And one name to watch, as we try to sort all this out in the coming months – Robeisy Ramirez. The two-time Olympic gold medalist was one of the most highly touted prospects coming out of Rio 2016, but he suffered a shocking upset loss in his pro debut in 2019. That basically meant a lot of people forgot about him, and Top Rank had him rebound with a series of wins deep on undercards. He’s quietly won 11 fights in a row and has shown a ton of improvement, especially under the tutelage of Ismael Salas. He’s also started knocking people out, evolving his amateur pedigree to become a more pro-style fighter.
So how good is he? It’s time to find out. Ramirez meets former 122-pound titlist Isaac Dogboe on April 1 for a vacant belt at featherweight, and a win would throw him right into the mix with Lara, Wood, Lopez and everyone else at the top of the division. Don’t look now, but the best featherweight in the world may have been right in front of us the whole time.
For now, though?
Mauricio Lara
Rey Vargas
Luis Alberto Lopez
Leigh Wood
Robeisy Ramirez