WBA featherweight champion Leigh Wood 27-3 (16) could be having his last fight in the 126-pound weight class when he takes on former two-time IBF champion Josh Warrington 31-2-1 (8) at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield, England this Saturday night.
Nottingham’s Wood, 35, has spent more of his 12 year pro career at featherweight and believes the time is right to move up in weight.
The Ben Davison trained boxer revealed he has long coveted a shot at the 32-year-old Warrington from Leeds, but circumstances conspired against him to prevent that fight from happening.
“I’ve wanted this fight for maybe five or six years,” Wood said to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour.
“I was calling for this when Josh was flying high and I couldn’t get a fight of any description.
“But I picked Warrington and told Eddie [Hearn] that I wasn’t going to fight him unless it was in the contract that my next fight would take place at the City Ground [the home of Nottingham Forest] and we’ve got that clause in there.
“What I need to do is go out and win and then I’ll have a little break – because I’ve had three fights on the spin this year and at world level, not many fighters do that.”
If Wood does decide to move up in weight, a natural opponent would be IBF 130-pound champion Joe Cordina 16-0 (9). The 31-year-old Welshman is scheduled to defend his title for the second time against Edward Vazquez 15-1 (3) in Monte Carlo early next month and is promoted by Eddie Hearn, just like Wood.
“On Saturday, I’m going to go out there, I’m going to impress, be dominant and I’m going to win and then I’ll have a few months off and then hopefully we get the fight there in May,” Wood said.
“I’m just going to stick to what I’ve practiced with my team, my game plan, because I know what I need to do. If all goes to plan, I can see myself getting him [Warrington] out of there with a mid-to-late stoppage.
“I’ve got a lot of options on the table, but I think I need to move up. It’s getting hard to make this weight and I’ve made it for a long, long time so this will probably be my last fight at featherweight – unless I get an offer I can’t refuse which would tie in with the City Ground.
“If not, though, we’ll move up and look at the options. I think when you vacate a belt [to move up], you become number one for that belt and whoever has got the WBA [title at super featherweight] at the time, we’ll look at that. There’s Cordina, which is a great fight, but I don’t really want to think about or talk about it.
“My eyes are on Saturday night and I’m going to go out there and show everyone exactly what I’m all about.”
