{"id":8983,"date":"2026-02-19T15:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=8983"},"modified":"2026-02-19T15:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:04:00","slug":"leigh-wood-vs-josh-warrington-tensions-cool-at-news-conference-between-bitter-rivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=8983","title":{"rendered":"Leigh Wood vs Josh Warrington: Tensions cool at news conference between bitter rivals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Leigh Wood says he &#8220;does not want an easy night&#8221; against Josh Warrington when the former featherweight world champions renew their rivalry in Nottingham on Saturday.<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The pair will contest a rematch at the Motorpoint Arena, more than two years after their dramatic first fight ended with a Wood knockout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Despite plenty of needle and animosity lingering in the build-up, Thursday&#8217;s news conference was cordial, with both men fully focused.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s going to be easy. I&#8217;m not expecting it to be easy and nor do I want it to be easy,&#8221; said the 37-year-old Wood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I actually feel better when I&#8217;m going through it and then I get the victory.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He holds a record of 28 wins and four defeats, with 17 of those victories coming by knockout. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Nottingham-born Wood &#8211; who has built a reputation in recent years for his heavy hands and consistent threat inside the ring &#8211; insisted he was not underestimating Warrington either. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">His victory over the 35-year-old in October 2023 remains one of the most memorable all-British fights of recent years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Warrington appeared to be edging the action in Sheffield through his work-rate and pressure, before Wood unleashed a powerful right hand in the seventh round to force a stunning stoppage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Leeds-born Warrington described that as a &#8220;fantastic&#8221; punch but promised to make the necessary adjustments this time to change the outcome.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I can&#8217;t see what Leigh&#8217;s going to do differently,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leigh Wood says he &#8220;does not want an easy night&#8221; against Josh Warrington when the former featherweight world champions renew their rivalry in Nottingham on Saturday. The pair will contest a rematch at the Motorpoint Arena, more than two years after their dramatic first fight ended with a Wood knockout. Despite plenty of needle and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boxing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}