Leigh Wood knocks out Michael Conlan to retain WBA featherweight title

Leigh Wood produced a brutal last-round knockout of Michael Conlan to retain his WBA featherweight title amid worrying scenes in Nottingham.

The powerful punch sent Conlan through the ropes and onto the floor and he was later carried out of the arena on a stretcher and taken to hospital.

Promoter Eddie Hearn said the Belfast fighter was «conscious and talking».

England's Wood had himself been knocked down in the first round and was losing before the late knockout.

Wood, who stopped his celebrations to ensure his opponent was OK, told Dazn: «I just hope Michael is all right; I can't celebrate until I know he is.

»He is so tough and it was a bad knockout so I just want to see he is all right."

Hearn called Wood's win «one of the greatest comebacks» but added «we're all praying for Michael».

«It looked a masterclass from Michael and coming into the 12th I could not see a way Leigh could turn the fight around,» Hearn said.

«Michael was two ahead going into the last round, Leigh Wood had to knock him out in the 12th and he did.

»I would love to celebrate but all our thoughts are with Michael."

Wood, 33, won the 'regular' version of the WBA title with a points win over China's Xu Can in July at Matchroom's Fight Camp, staged in Hearn's garden in Brentwood, Essex, because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Wood was set to fight at this venue on the undercard of Carl Froch's IBF super-middleweight world championship fight against Lucian Bute 10 years ago, but his bout did not go ahead.

However, Wood, who was in the crowd that day cheering on his fellow Nottingham boxer as he beat Bute with a fifth-round knockout, called the opportunity to fight in front of a crowd of just under 10,000 people at the same venue, the Motorpoint Arena, «a fairy tale».

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