Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara Prediction and Odds: WBA World Featherweight Title Fight

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This Saturday night in Nottingham, the WBA World Featherweight title will go on the line at the Nottingham Arena. Home favourite Leigh Wood will be seeking to defend his title, while Mexico’s Mauricio Lara is traveling to England with an extra bag booked to hopefully carry his new WBA belt on the way back.

Both boxers have excellent professional records, and despite Lara being a decade younger, he already has plenty of experience to his name. This should be a fantastic contest, with some great opportunities for betting as well. We breakdown the bookies odds and offer up our suggestions of the best wagers to make ahead of the first bell on Saturday night in this betting preview.

These odds from Ladbrokes were correct at the time of writing.

Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara – Fight Prediction

Here at Pundit Feed, we love our boxing. Below are two of the best predictions our experts suggest making on this title fight in Nottingham:

Lara to Win @ 2/5 (1.40)

It’s rare that a boxer fighting away from home, and challenging for a belt, would be the heavy favourite. However, that’s exactly the case for Mauricio Lara, who is well ahead in the bookies’ odds ahead of this clash.

Lara is the bookie favourite for good reason. The Mexican, despite only being 24 years old, already has 28 professional fights to his name. He’s shown himself to be a powerful, confident, skilful boxer, that has dispatched all in his way so far. While Wood is no slouch, he’s entering the downhill slide in his career at 34 years old, and we expect Lara to want this fight more, and be better equipped to win it as well.

Lara to Win By Knockout @ 1/2 (1.50)

More specifically, we see Lara winning this one by knockout. He has a 64% knockout rate, and since 2019 he’s won ten fights by knockout, with only one going to the judges (bar an accidental headbutt, where the fight was ruled a draw). The Mexican will know that Wood is a dangerous puncher as well, so it’s unlikely he’ll want to go the distance with him and allow the Englishman opportunities to land big shots.

Expect Lara to come out aggressive, dominate this match, and land a knockout blow in the middle rounds.

Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara Preview

With these bets in mind, here’s a look at how each fighter has made it to this bout:

Leigh Wood

Leigh Wood is the defending WBA Featherweight Champion, and has led an impressive boxing career. The 34-year-old has been fighting professionally since 2011, with a record of 26-2-0 to date. He has 16 knockouts, and is currently on a three fight knockout streak, after losing a majority decision to James Dickens in 2020.

Mauricio Lara

Mexico’s Mauricio Lara has bene busy since debuting as a professional in 2015, working his way quickly through the Mexican domestic circuit. He has built up a record of 25-2-1 with 18 knockouts. Five of these fights have been outside of Mexico, with Lara twice traveling to the UK to fight Josh Warrington. Currently Lara is on a two fight win streak, after a draw with Warrington in 2021.

Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara Head to Head

These two have not met in a professional capacity before.

Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara Fight Details

• Wood vs Mauricio date and time: Saturday 18^th of February from 7:00 PM GMT.
• Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara venue: Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England.
• How to watch Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara in UK: DAZN.

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