Leigh Wood has set his sights on a “new era” of big fights after becoming WBA featherweight champion with a 12th-round stoppage of China’s Xu Can.
The Nottingham boxer was given his chance at only six weeks’ notice and dominated his rival for much of the contest at Brentwood in Essex.
He floored Xu with a right hook in the final round and a flurry of punches prompted the referee to step in.
“I’ve come from small hall boxing, the longest way round,” said Wood.
“I’ve come from ground zero to get to a world title and be in such a great fight, at the top of my game, [and] the show goes on.”
The 32-year-old’s victory gives him one version of the WBA’s world title – the sanctioning body also has a ‘super champion’ belt, held by Mexico’s Leo Santa Cruz.
“A lot of people wrote me off before that fight and I’ve got all the comments saved. Now hopefully they’ll give me some credit and that’ll push me towards a bigger fight,” Wood told BBC East Midlands Sport.
“I fancy [WBO champion Emmanuel] Navarrete, that would be fireworks, he can whack, and Leo Santa Cruz, he’s the super champion even though he’s not boxed at the weight for two years. There are some massive fights out there.”
British and former Commonwealth and WBO European champion Wood’s win was his 25th in 27 professional contests – and it was Xu’s first defeat for seven years.
“I had confidence in what I’d been working on in the gym. I knew what I had to to do, I had all the ingredients, I just had to go out there and put it together,” said Wood.
“We knew what he was good at, and you have to take away what he’s good at, and that’s what we worked on, to nullify him.
“I knew that if my shots didn’t put him down early on, they were going to have an accumulating effect. The shot that finished him wasn’t as big as the ones in the early rounds but it was an accumulation over 12 rounds.”
