Leigh Wood vs. Josh Warrington Betting Tips: Leigh-thal to retain his featherweight crown

At the Utilita Arena in Sheffield on Saturday night, Nottingham's Leigh Wood will defend his reclaimed featherweight title in an all British showdown with two-time champion and Yorkshireman Josh Warrington.

Last time out, Wood produced a 12-round masterclass to recoup his 126lbs title from Mauricio Lara in May's rematch. The Sheriff of Nottingham puts his newly retrieved WBA featherweight belt on the line against the Leeds Warrior, with a potential showdown against super-featherweight king Joe Cordina awaiting the winner.

For Warrington, becoming a three-time world champion is the goal and he has the perfect dance partner to accomplish that against in a domestic brawl at a neutral venue. The 32-year-old has been inactive since December 2022, and last tasted victory around 18 months ago with a TKO stoppage over Kiko Martinez.

The champion will enter the ring as the 8/15 favourite on Saturday. Warrington, the challenger, can be backed at 2/1 to dethrone his native adversary, while the draw is a 16/1 shot for those punters who like to take a big swing.

It seems easy to call this a 50-50 fight, especially in a combat sport where one blow can put an immediate end to proceedings. However, these two are extremely hardened fighters, have both had some setbacks, and more importantly, have not only competed at but have both succeeded at world championship level.

On the night we're giving the slight advantage to Wood, who we expect to be the fresher man in those later rounds. There's been a changing of the guard over recent years, with Warrington first competing at the highest level before Covid threw a fork in the road which allowed Wood to rise to world featherweight champion himself.

Many believed the Michael Conlan fight had put significant miles on Wood's clock, which was further supported in the February meeting with Lara when a devastating knockdown forced a corner stoppage from Leigh-thal's team. Despite that, he put on a real classy showing in the rematch and proved that he can still precisely execute a game plan.

If Wood does stop his opponent on Saturday it's likely to be very late on, so this selection accommodates that by allowing Wood to win in the 11th and 12th rounds or when handed over to the judges' scorecards.

This double is odds-on with a host of different betting sites, leaving us more than happy to take the 21/20 presented by SpreadEx.

Leigh Wood is on a career high following that May rematch win over Lara, and it'll be extremely difficult for anybody to knock him off his stride.

It's made even tougher in Warrington's case with him having fought just once in the last 10 months and only four times since the pandemic offset the sporting calendar.

That being said, we expect this matchup to go the distance and favour Wood when it comes to declaring a winner.

Both of these fighters will be encouraged to stand and trade by an exuberant crowd in Sheffield, and Josh Warrington is the more likely of the two to get dragged into that tactic - especially considering how Mauricio Lara unravelled Wood with one punch earlier this year in their first meeting.

Ultimately, Wood's skill, agility and timing will be too much for Warrington, who will be more than a worthy opponent for him, but will not upset Wood from claiming back-to-back unanimous decision victories over two of the division's most elite.