Mauricio Lara once again showed his clinical finishing-punch power by stopping Leigh Wood in the seventh round to win the WBA world featherweight title in England on Saturday.
The Mexican fighter silenced Wood's hometown fans at the Nottingham Arena when he floored the champion with a crunching left hook, and when Wood got to his feet, the English boxer's trainer, Ben Davison, threw in the towel to stop the fight.
Wood had established control in an exciting fight at the time of the stoppage, before Lara's stunning finish, and was unhappy with Davison's decision to pull him out of the fight. «I feel very happy for this championship.
It's what I've dreamed of since I was 8 years old,» Lara said. «I definitely felt Leigh's punches, but they didn't hurt me. He hits hard and is a good champion.» The victory opens up the possibility of a title unification fight for Lara against one of the other world champions at 126 pounds — Rey Vargas (WBC) and Luis Alberto Lopez (IBF) — who are also both from Mexico.