FORMER world featherweight champion Leigh Wood has joined Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions stable ahead of his next outing against Anthony Cacace.
The pair will square off for Cacace’s IBO super-featherweight title on May 10, with Wood, 28-3 (17 KOs), returning to his home city of Nottingham, England, to headline a Queensberry card on DAZN.
His last assignment at the Nottingham Arena was staged in 2023, back when ‘Leigh-Thal’ suffered a devastating seventh-round stoppage defeat to tenacious Mexican Mauricio Lara.
Later that year, Wood then avenged his blemish with a far more polished performance, securing a wide unanimous decision victory to reclaim his WBA strap.
But before losing to Lara, the fan-friendly Brit treated his Nottingham supporters to a compelling spectacle against Michael Conlan, halting proceedings with a stunning 12th-round finish in 2022.
Now, Wood comes off a seventh-round stoppage victory over Josh Warrington, but will have remained out of the ring for one and a half years by the time he faces Cacace.
During last year, the 36-year-old’s activity was hampered by several injuries while, at the same time, his promotional situation seemingly remained up in the air.
But Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn, who promoted Wood for the majority of his career, has now lifted the lid on why their working relationship came to an end.
“We couldn’t agree the money with Leigh,” Hearn told Boxing News’ Andi Purewal. “We tried to make the Warrington rematch, but we lost money on Warrington-Wood 1.
“[Wood] wanted more money, because he’d won [the first fight], and we actually wanted to actually pay him a little bit less.
“The numbers have got to make sense for us. Queensberry are starting on DAZN, [so] maybe they’re prepared to lose some money on Leigh Wood.”
With Wood now gearing up to face Cacace, 23-1 (8 KOs), at 130lbs, it would appear that there is already plenty to look forward to in this next chapter of his career.
Cacace, too, comes off a victory over Warrington but, after dethroning Joe Cordina for his IBF strap last May, has since vacated the red and gold belt instead of defending it against mandatory challenger Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez.
