Leigh Wood vs. Josh Warrington Picks, Predictions, and Odds

Two champion featherweights will face off in the marquee boxing event of this weekend when Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington square off in Sheffield, England on Saturday night. Wood is the current WBA featherweight champion, while Warrington is a two-time IBF featherweight title holder. Promoter Eddie Heard has called this fight a toss-up, but the oddsmakers disagree as Wood is a moderate favorite by the boxing betting odds. Wood has intimated that he would probably move up in weight with a win over Warrington on Saturday night, but he has to take care of business before he can start thinking about the future.

Boxing Betting Odds at Caesars Sportsbook

Leigh Wood -265
Josh Warrington +190
Over/Under 10.5 Rounds (Over -305)

It’s been an up and down few years for each fighter coming into this bout. Both boxers have won (and subsequently lost the featherweight title), but Wood has a strap coming into this fight after avenging an earlier defeat to Mauricio Lara.

Leigh Wood is in his 12^th year as a professional fighter. Wood has been one of the top boxers in the UK for some time, but there have been some slip-ups along the way. He was knocked out by Gavin McDonnell with the British super bantamweight belt on the line less than three years into his pro career, and he needed to re-trace some steps climbing the ladder following that defeat.

It took Wood nearly five years to reach a similar point, but he moved his career record to 21-1 after a second-round knockout of Abraham Osei Bonsu led to him claiming the Commonwealth featherweight belt. He defended that title successfully and ended up taking part in The Golden Contract – Featherweight as a result of his newfound standing. Wood won the WBO European featherweight title with his TKO of David Oliver Joyce in the first fight, but he lost that belt in his next fight. Jazza Dickens bested him by majority decision to advance to the Golden Contract Finals and claimed the WBO European belt with the win.

Still, Wood didn’t let the setback bother him for too long. After beating Reece Mould two years ago, he took on Xu Can for the WBA featherweight belt. Can was knocked out in the final round and lost the belt, and Wood repeated the feat with a 12^th round TKO over Michael Conlan in his first title defense. He looked set to make his second title defense earlier this year after taking an early lead over Mauricio Lara on the judges’ scorecards, but Lara ended up overpowering Wood and knocking him out in the seventh round.

The rematch between Lara and Wood was awkward. Lara was unable to make weight and came in so far overweight that he was stripped of the title. He was clearly gassed, so Wood was able to pick up a pretty comfortable victory to retake the belt.

Josh Warrington turned pro two years before Wood. He has been a name for much longer than his opponent as Warrington was 30-0 before he lost his first fight, and he won multiple local and regional belts before receiving his first true title shot.

Warrington was 26-0 before facing Lee Selby for the IBF featherweight title in mid-2018. It was a close fight, but Warrington won a split decision over Selby to claim his first major belt. He made three successful title defenses, beating Kid Galahad by split decision; Carl Frampton by unanimous decision; and Sofiane Taoucht by second-round TO before falling to Lara in his fourth title defense.

The rematch with Lara was supposed to be an exciting showdown, but the fight was stopped after two rounds following an accidental head clash. Fortunately for Warrington, he was still able to win back the IBF featherweight belt in his next bout with a seventh round TKO of Kiko Martinez. However, he lost that belt in December after losing a majority decision to Luis Alberto Lopez.

These boxers are both 5’7 with a 67-inch reach. They have never fought each other before, but Wood is seen as having the edge. He is probably getting a little too much respect, so we will roll with the underdog here.

Play: Josh Warrington to Win