Leigh Wood exclusive: I want to win so bad

The old familiar feelings are starting to course through Leigh Wood.

The two-time WBA featherweight champion hasn’t boxed since October 2023 when he scored a thrilling seventh round knockout of Josh Warrington.

Wood (28-3, 17 KOs) has spent the past 18 months punching bags, hitting pads and talking about fighting but with Saturday’s fight with former IBF super featherweight world champion, Anthony Cacace (23-1, 8KOs), quickly approaching, he is now fully in fight mode. For all the latest fight odds, visit our sportsbook

“I had this conversation with Lee Wylie [one of his trainers] on the way back from the gym a few days ago. I said, ‘I want to win so bad,’” Wood told 32Red.

“He’s like, ‘Don’t worry. You’ve done everything you need to do.’

“After a fight, you can’t sleep”

“I’ve not really told anyone this before, but every morning I wake up, I think about what I need to do to win this fight and then, when I’ve won the fight, for the next four or five days, I still wake up thinking, ‘Get up. I need to train extra hard. I need to make sure I win.’

“You’ve already won you t—t.

“After a fight, you’re awake for a good two and a half days without even sleeping. I think it’s about four days after that when reality hits and you start enjoying yourself a little bit.”

Wood will be making his 130lb debut this weekend.

Lots of fighters have to alter their natural style when they move up to a new weight division and begin mixing with bigger men and heavier punchers.

Wood won’t have to change a single thing. It is common knowledge that it became extremely difficult for him to boil himself down to 126lbs and although four extra pounds isn’t going to make a drastic difference to how he feels, it should make the final days before the fight a little bit more comfortable.

“Absolutely,” he said.

“You can’t switch off in any fight”

“I’m moving up in weight, but I’m still having to come down to make it.

“Technically, I’m moving up in weight, but I’m not really. I’m just not coming down as much I’m still really big, but I haven’t got to lose as much.

“I’m pretty much the same as what I was making featherweight, but the last bit will be not as harsh.”

Wood deserves his reputation as one of the sport’s true action heroes but as crowd pleasing as his fights with Warrington, Mauricio Lara and especially his up and down war with Michael Conlan were, he is at his most effective when he recognises a threat, tones down the drama, focus on the task at hand and boxes.

He was brilliant against Ryan Doyle, Can Xu and in his revenge win against Mauricio Lara.

“I try not to make the same mistakes twice”

“With the Conlan fight, I think I just got a little bit too relaxed because when I came out, what we’d practised worked straight away. I thought, it was easy,” he said.

“Then I got too relaxed. I got sold downstairs, parried it and then boom, over the top. Not so much lack of respect for his power or anything like that but more just too relaxed. You can’t switch off in any fight because it only takes one shot and it don’t take a massive punch to knock you out.”

Cacace is reputed to carry true, bone bruising power and should be exactly the type of fighter to ensure Wood remains switched on for every second they spend together in the ring.

“Yeah, I think so but even every fight after that I try not to make the same mistakes twice,” Wood said.

“Try not to switch off, try to stay focused. But you’ve got to hit a nice medium of being relaxed and composed but also being switched on and alert.”

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