Ben Davison likes the Josh Warrington rematch for his super featherweight Leigh Wood.
The always-exciting Wood has not fought since being stopped in nine rounds by Belfast’s Anthony Cacace in May. That rivalry has likely run its course, but Wood and Warrington have shared bad blood since their bout.
Warrington was doing well early but got careless when he walked on to a withering combination and was dropped heavily in the seventh round of their encounter in Sheffield, in October 2023.
When Warrington rose, the referee Michael Alexander waved the fight off and controversy raged, with Warrington claiming he should have been able to fight on and Wood contending he would – if the fight had continued – have put Warrington away.
“We’re talking at the minute; I think they probably want to do the Josh Warrington fight again,” Davison told BoxingScene. “I think that's what I think might happen. But there’s other options out there for him as well.”
Wood has a similar rivalry with Michael Conlan, who was stopped in the 12th by Wood in 2022 and boxes Jack Bateson in September. Both rematches will remain commercially viable for the fighter from Nottingham, who still covets a fight at the local City Ground.
Wood, 37, weighed up his future after the Cacace fight. He’d had frustrated spells of inactivity and his record stands at 28-4 (17 KOs).
“I think probably since the Josh Warrington fight, there was an element of ‘Will I go again?’” explained Davison. “Then it was ‘I want to do the City Ground Fight’. Warrington was probably mad for it; a little bit of controversy around the first one. It was certainly an entertaining fight and that didn’t come off.
“And then [Wood] got like an auto-immune disease, I think it is, which kept him out for a long time. And then it was the Cacace fight. But it was a tough fight; tough style match-up. He’d had a long time out of the ring. But I think he wants to do one more and see, ‘Was it the time out of the ring [that cost him against Cacace]?’. And then go from there.”
It was Davison who sent in the towel to rescue Wood against Cacace. Davison had previously used the towel to rescue Wood against Mauricio Lara and other fighters of his, when other coaches might have been happier for their charges to go out on their shield.
“You’ve got to be ballsy in those situations,” Davison said. “I never ever feel pressure of should I, shouldn’t I, or from my instincts. It’s the kind of thing; I think you’ve got to play it safe. I think there’s a time and place maybe not to, for example – like Tyson [Fury] versus Wilder.”
Davison was in the corner that incredible night in 2018 in Los Angeles when Fury was dropped twice by Deontay Wilder, once miraculously rising having seemingly been out and flat on his back.
“I don’t think anybody would have complained if I put the towel out in there,” said Davison. “But when he got up, I could see his legs were steady, but I was very confident he was able to defend himself. As long as they can still defend themselves, I think that’s the most important thing. If I think they can defend themselves, I give them a chance.”
