A fervent home crowd can be worth its weight in gold when boxing reaches the cut and thrust of the championship rounds, or sooner. Leigh Wood knows better than most, having dragged himself vertical as early as the first session when Michael Conlan dropped him heavily in their world title tear-up over three years ago.
Wood now has another rampant Irish fighter to contend with, as Anthony Cacace comes to town on Saturday evening in their IBO title clash. The Nottingham crowd will need to be in full voice to steer their man through once more.
“They’ve been vital in some of my fights. The Conlan fight, they literally picked me up off the canvas,” Wood explained at this afternoon’s final press conference after MC Dev Sahni likened the arena to a ‘wolf pit’.
“I just feel like they give me another gear on fight night. Mull of Kintyre when I walk out. The rounds when I’ve had my head punched in and then I’ve turned the fight around,” continued Wood.
“They’ve contributed to that massively. Hopefully they don’t have to do that for me on Saturday night. But they will pick me up on the ring walk. They will give me another gear and bring the best out of me.”
Even though Wood has not been seen in a boxing ring since late 2023, he has not been out of the gym.
“My life is literally about boxing. I’m just dedicated to my craft. I have been for 20-odd years and I will be till the day I retire,” he said.
While Cacace insists that the crowd will have no part in what happens in the ring, the Holy Trinity product says there is no animosity between the pair. Wood shares the “no beef” sentiments, seeing Saturday night as strictly business.
“I’m actually going to feel bad beating him,” he grinned.
