When is Leigh Wood vs. Josh Warrington II?

Leigh Wood vs. Josh Warrington II is on Saturday, February 21. The main broadcast will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern Time (7 p.m. BST). 

A free preliminary undercard will start at 12:30 p.m. ET (5:30 p.m. BST).

What channel is Leigh Wood vs. Josh Warrington II on?

Leigh Wood vs. Josh Warrington II will stream on DAZN.

Where is Leigh Wood vs. Josh Warrington II?

The fight is taking place at Motorpoint Arena Nottingham in Nottingham, England.

Who is Leigh Wood?

Leigh Wood, 28-4 (17 KOs), is a 37-year-old former featherweight titleholder whose wins and losses have been both action-packed and dramatic, including in his first bout with Josh Warrington.

Wood peaked in his 30s. He turned pro in 2011 at the age of 23, suffered his first defeat in 2014 via sixth-round TKO against the 10-0-1 Gavin McDonnell, and then won 12 in a row over the next five and a half years. Wood’s winning streak came to an end in February 2020 with a majority decision loss to Jazza Dickens.

But Wood’s fortunes changed in July 2021, when he stopped Can Xu in the 12th round to win a secondary WBA belt at 126lbs. Six months later, Wood had another dramatic final-round victory over Michael Conlan. Wood was dropped in the opening round and was narrowly behind on the scorecards going into the 12th, when he sent Conlan out of the ring for the TKO. Wood vs. Conlan was named 2022’s Fight of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Wood was briefly upgraded to the WBA’s primary titleholder when Leo Santa Cruz vacated his belt at the end of 2022. Two months later, Wood suffered an upset loss to Mauricio Lara, ahead on the cards when Lara stopped him in the seventh. Their rematch came three months later in May 2023. Lara came in massively overweight, but Wood won the title back via unanimous decision.

Wood’s first defense came against Warrington in October 2023. Warrington was clearly ahead when Wood changed his fortunes with a seventh-round technical knockout. Wood soon vacated his world title and planned to move up to junior lightweight. There was talk of a Warrington sequel, but no deal was reached. Injuries also kept Warrington sidelined; he finally returned this past May and was put away in the ninth round by former junior lightweight titleholder Anthony Cacace.

Wood vs. Cacace took place at Motorpoint Arena Nottingham in Wood’s hometown of Nottingham, England. So did the win over Conlan and the loss to Lara. Wood will be back there for this Warrington rematch and is hoping to send his fans home happy – and his opponent home unhappy.

Who is Josh Warrington?

Josh Warrington, 32-4-1 (8 KOs), is a former featherweight titleholder who had two reigns with the IBF belt. The 35-year-old from Leeds, England, has competed just twice since his loss to Leigh Wood in 2023, and Warrington’s most recent fight brought his first victory since 2022.

Warrington debuted in 2009 and captured his first world title in 2018, defeating Lee Selby via split decision. He made three successful defenses, unanimously outpointing the once-beaten Carl Frampton, getting a split nod over the previously undefeated Kid Galahad, and needing just two rounds to dispose of the 35-3-1 Sofiane Takoucht.

Warrington didn’t compete at all in 2020 during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and then vacated his IBF belt at the beginning of 2021. There were a few reported reasons: Warrington had wanted to take on secondary WBA titleholder Can Xu. But Xu wanted the fight to take place when pandemic restrictions eased and more people could attend. The IBF then called for Warrington to have a rematch with Galahad. And the purse bid for Warrington-Galahad II came in rather low.

Xu instead went on to lose to Leigh Wood. And Warrington lost as well, surprisingly stopped by Mauricio Lara in the ninth round in February 2021. (Wood suffered a similar fate in his first bout with Lara two years later.) Lara-Warrington II took place seven months later but ended as a technical draw in the second round when a clash of heads opened a cut on Lara.

By the start of 2022, the game of hot potato with Warrington’s old IBF belt had seen Kid Galahad win the vacant title with a TKO of Jazza Dickens, then Kiko Martinez stop Galahad to acquire the prize. Warrington took out Martinez in seven rounds and started his second stint as a titleholder.

Before the year was over, so too was his reign. That December, Warrington dropped a majority decision to Luis Alberto Lopez. And so began a three-fight losing streak. Warrington was up on the cards when Wood stopped him in the seventh round in October 2023. Warrington then moved up to junior lightweight and was outpointed by former titleholder Anthony Cacace nearly a year later in September 2024. 

Warrington’s last outing ended that rough stretch. Last April, he outpointed the 19-6-1 Asad Asif Khan.

What other fights are on the undercard of Leigh Wood vs. Josh Warrington II?

The undercard includes a bout for the vacant WBC junior welterweight title between former 147lbs titleholder Sandy Ryan, 8-3-1 (3 KOs), and Karla Ramos Zamora, 12-10-2 (4 KOs).

Also, there is a junior middleweight fight between Ishmael Davis, 15-3 (6 KOs), and Bilal Fawaz, 10-1-1 (3 KOs); as well as the continued development of several prospects such as heavyweight Leo Atang, 4-0 (4 KOs), junior featherweight Molly McCann, 2-0 (1 KO), and Tiah Mai Ayton, 4-0 (4 KOs).

The full list of undercard fights can be seen on BoxRec.

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.