The Fight Site Boxing Preview, May 27th
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
In their wisdom, the powers-that-be (that is, promoters and broadcasters) of UK boxing decided to put on three major cards simultaneously this weekend. Two compelling main events, plus Lawrence Okolie, compete for your attention. Let’s take a look.
Mauricio Lara vs Leigh Wood 2
Featherweight
Wood was pretty much dominating Lara in their first fight, back in February. Then he started to make some small errors, and Lara capitalised in a big way. They connected on simultaneous left hooks, but Lara’s was by far the bigger shot, dropping Wood. He got up, but he looked wobbly, and his trainer Ben Davison threw in the towel.
The main thing for Wood to take from the first is that, although it seemed to come out of nowhere - he was still dominating right until the knockdown- there were some warning signs. Most specifically, early in the fight Wood was pivoting out after throwing hooks fantastically, letting Lara’s attempted counters and attacks skim past him. As he tired, though, he continued to pivot but forgot the ‘out’ part, turning more on the spot. He’d started taking a few hooks in return even before the finish. He’ll need to bear that in mind- either drop the check hook entirely, or be hyper-aware as he starts to tire and drop it if he can get to a dominant lead.
Other than that, there’s not a lot for him to do differently, really. He fought excellently, controlling Lara with a busy jab then luring him past it into intercepting shots. If he does that again, and stays safe, he’ll be on to a good thing.
Lara, for his part, is unlikely to have been able to retool his whole game. There’s a decent chance he has to prepare for much of the same. He won’t be worried though. Although he’s technically limited, he’s smart in the ring, and if the left hook doesn’t open up for him, he’ll look for other gaps in the fence. Quite what route that will be will depend a lot on Wood, but Lara will never be totally out of it.
The undercard is… eh. Jack Catterall returns from his long layoff after his robbery loss against Josh Taylor. He’s fighting Darragh Foley, who has a decent career but has lost any time he’s come near world level. Terri Harper is also in with a less high-profile opponent than she’d like - she was meant to be defending her women’s super-welterweight title against Ceceila Braekhus last week, but Braekhus got ill. So Harper slipped to this week, against late replacement Ivana Hazebin, who has to be fair fought both Braekhus and Claressa Shields in the past, so has experience. Aqib Fiaz is a slick-looking 145lb prospect, Campbell Hatton continues his journey, and William Crolla, brother of Anthony, makes his pro debut. There’s stories, but it’s not clear how much actual competition there will be.
Luis Alberto Lopez vs Michael Conlan
Featherweight
Quite why the two broadcasters chose to air direct rivals directly against each other is unclear. There is some chatter that they’ll try to stagger the main events, but we’ll see. In any case, this one is likely to be a bit more awkward, being a battle between two awkward fuckers. Both are capable of being weird and a bit dull, but both have also shown excitement, so fingers crossed.
Lopez won the IBF title he’s bringing here in a scrappy, dirty fight against Josh Warrington, taking home a split decision in a fight defined mostly by head clashes, clinches and rabbit punches. A lot of people blamed Warrington alone for this, but while he’s definitely a dirty fighter, Lopez was not innocent and you shouldn’t be surprised if the head clashes and clinches happen here.
Conlan has less of that in his past, but he does have a lurchy style that might mesh badly with Lopez’s sharp forward movements. He does, however, favour movement more than past opponents of the Mexican, so he’ll be hoping to make him fall short and catch him while overbalancing. In return, Lopez will be looking for his unpredictability to shatter Conlan’s first defensive layer- because there isn’t that much of a second layer, so if he can do that he can also find his opponent off-balance.
So no, it’s unlikely to be slick. Whether it’s grindy, or just weird-but-high-action, is hard to say from here. Could go either way- and so could the result.
The undercard here is also not hugely strong, but it does feature Nick Ball, always worth a watch. A fellow featherweight, Ball (listed at a tiny 5 foot 2) is a package of aggression, aggravation and skill, coming in low before exploding into shots his opponents cannot possibly have properly prepared for in training. His opponent, Ludumo Lamati, is a South African who has only fought out of his home country once, so basically an unknown. The little tape of him there is available suggests he’s very aggressive as well, so we could get a war there. How long it lasts depends on Lamati’s level- impossible to judge from here. Hopefully it’s a good tear-up.
Lawrence Okolie vs Chris Billam-Smith
Cruiserweight
The sad irony is that of all six headline fighters this weekend, Okolie is quite likely the best one. He’s skilled, tough, huge for the division, and just generally very hard to beat. He’s just, almost always, really really boring. He refuses to be losing even a second of any given round, and if that means taking it to the most awkward, grindy place of clinches, hugs and pushes, he will. He is capable of slickness- he showed that winning the title against Krzysztof Głowacki, a tidy display of range-finding and interceptions.
Being optimistic, Billam-Smith may play into allowing that. He’s a very aggressive fighter, tidy and clean in his style but rolling forward incessantly behind a jab. The fact that he’s not that fast, and quite straight lined, may allow Okolie to indulge in some of that smart movement he occasionally displays, and pick him off as he comes. He’s also very determined, and really strong, so he may be able to handle Okolie’s shoving matches in ways previous opponents have not. If he can consistently get the champion off-balance or uncomfortable with his stay-safe tactics, he may have a shot. An Okolie win is probably the most likely outcome, but it’s a good matchup. Let’s hope it leads to a good fight.
The undercard here shows the limitations of Boxxer’s stable, as a relatively new promotional outfit still. It does give us one potential war- albeit one that could be uncomfortable to watch. Both Sam Eggington and Joe Pigford are absolute madmen in the ring. Pigford is unbeaten, Eggington has fought at the much higher level - but both have been in war after war, with almost no thought to defending themselves. So while Eggington should be favourite, it might come down to who is more worn out- despite neither being all that old, with Pigford at 30 and Eggington, somehow , only 29.
Isaac Chamberlain, a former opponent of Okolie’s, also features, as does Michael McKinson, apparently still in recovery mode after his KO loss to Vergil Ortiz last year. Neither is in with an opponent who’s realistically expected to test them, but we’ll see.