When a trainer sees their boxer hurt during a fight, several things must go through their mind. They must consider, for instance, the extent of the damage and whether it has been caused by just one punch or rather an accumulation of blows. They must consider where they are in the fight – how early or how late – and how much time there is left in the round in which their boxer finds himself or herself in trouble. They must also keep in mind the boxer’s reputation, and their durability, and whether they have shown in the past the potential to recover from such a moment and still win the fight. 

In the case of Leigh Wood, the Nottingham super-featherweight, That Moment tends to be even more difficult to call and even more ambiguous than it is for most. After all, it is during That Moment that Wood often comes alive and has managed to either turn a fight on its head or finish it completely. It is in That Moment he grows, becomes dangerous, and almost thrives. 

Which is why, when Leigh Wood found himself there again last night in his home city, everybody held their breath and waited to see what would happen next. In his corner, Ben Davison, Wood’s trainer, would have seen Wood hurt, and seemingly on the brink, yet would have been just as aware of how his man excels at a time like that. He would have gripped the white towel tight, ready to throw it in if required, but would not have let go of hope in order to do so. 

In fact, the only person who didn’t believe in Wood’s ability to turn last night’s fight around was his opponent, Anthony Cacace, who was relentless and paid no mind to reputations. All he knew was that he had hurt Wood with a flush left hook in round nine and that he now had the rest of the round to continue hurting Wood until the fight was over and the opportunity for Wood to do something miraculous had passed. 

Cacace, like us, would have seen what Wood had done to both Michael Conlan and Josh Warrington from losing positions and he would have known that the former WBA featherweight champion is not out of it until the punches have stopped. He also knew that fighting Wood in front of Wood’s home fans was likely to give Wood an extra boost whenever it was needed. 

If ever it was needed, it was in round nine last night. It was in that round Wood was caught early by a Cacace left hook and then tried to grab hold of the Irishman only to invite a further flurry of shots, most of which landed. Kept up by the ropes, Wood was soon issued a count by the referee, John Latham, and was clearly hurt, there for the taking, and desperate to find something big to turn the tables. 

He was, in other words, back in familiar territory. He knew it, Cacace knew it, and Ben Davison, watching on from Wood’s corner, knew it as well. In this place, where Wood is as dangerous as he is vulnerable, anything could happen, but, for him, it had to happen quickly. There was only so much punishment he could keep taking from Cacace and this period of will-he-won’t-he could only last so long. 

Moreover, this latest crisis felt different from the ones that came before it. Maybe it was because age had caught up with Wood, maybe it was because he had spent 19 months out of the ring, or maybe it was because Cacace, to that point, had been largely dominant. But whatever it was, there was a sense when Wood’s resistance finally started to wane that this was more likely to be the beginning of the end than the start of any resurgence. The fight, by then, had fallen into a certain pattern, you see; one set by Cacace from round one. Whether orthodox or southpaw, Cacace was controlling the distance of the fight quite brilliantly at times and had Wood struggling to close this distance or get far enough away from him to avoid being hit by jabs. He also did good work throughout with the uppercut, thrown with both his right and left hand, and managed to catch Wood with that shot whenever Wood got a little impatient and attempted to close the distance with aggression alone. 

When close enough to Cacace, Wood reminded him, and us, of what he can do, but these moments were few and far between. In the fourth round, for example, he did have some joy with his double jab, as well as a right uppercut on the bell, but still he found Cacace a hard target to hit and a difficult fighter to read. Sometimes it would be a lead right hand coming Wood’s way, and sometimes Cacace would leap in from out of range with an inventive flurry, doubling and even tripling hooks and uppercuts with his left hand. Wood, by comparison, was straight up, conventional, and always where Cacace wanted him. 

Aside from his creativity, what also helped Cacace was his hand speed, which allowed him to reach the target before Wood could reach him. This was evident whenever the pair traded jabs or, as we saw in round six, exchanged combinations up close. That round, the sixth, was arguably the best of the fight, yet despite the urgency Wood showed early, it was Cacace who got the better of things. His work, on the whole, was a lot cleaner and, in that round especially, his right uppercuts were quite sickening to witness. 

Still, Wood didn’t mind. As frustrating as it was, this was the kind of fight he had expected, the kind of fight he had prepared for, and the kind of fight with which he is most familiar. Besides, there were six rounds to go, and a lot can happen in six rounds, as Wood knows better than most. 

His only issue last night was slowing Cacace down and making some sort of dent in him. Without doing either, Wood was in danger of simply being left behind, both in exchanges and on the scorecards, and never finding himself in position to turn the fight around even if capable of such miracles. Against a man like Cacace, only so much could be achieved with toughness and determination alone. He was, it seemed, too clever for just that, Cacace. Also, from Wood, the Belfast man would have expected both those things and would have therefore been ready for it. His form, too, had been good of late and he was confident. There were big wins against Joe Cordina and Josh Warrington and Cacace now performed with all the belief and experience of a late bloomer who had finally cracked it. That was the version of him we saw against both Cordina and Warrington and it was the version we saw of him against Wood in Nottingham as well. 

By round nine, the round in which the fight ended, there was certainly no feeling that Cacace would suddenly start doubting himself or fade down the stretch. If anything, he was the one coming on strong and the one better positioned to ensure the three ringside judges were not required. His work around that time had become spiteful and even more purposeful and this showed when he hurt Wood with left hooks – the first to the head, the second to the body – and promised more. The first of those hooks created That Moment for Wood – that is, the chance to catch Cacace with something big he wasn’t expecting – whereas the second one, the left to the body, effectively finished Wood’s expected magic show before it had even begun. No sooner had the shot landed, in fact, than Wood was doubled over in pain and Ben Davison, in the corner, had released the white towel in his hand and thrown it into the ring. Seconds before the towel he had let go of his last bit of hope. 

“My timing was a wee bit off in the earlier rounds – I could have done that [got the stoppage] a bit earlier,” said Cacace, 24-1 (9), after the fight. “But I suppose it’s good to take your time. I could feel Leigh was gaining a bit of confidence in the middle rounds and I had to stop that. So then I started doubling up, I caught him inside, and I got him.”

The suggestion now is that Cacace, who holds the IBO super-featherweight belt, will be given a homecoming fight in Belfast later in the year. If so, it is the least he deserves for beating Cordina, Warrington and now Wood away from home and doing his best work now, at the age of 36. 

As for Wood, also 36, there are still compelling fights for him on the domestic scene, if he is that way inclined. However, just as the boxer’s trainer is always best positioned to know when to stop a fight, only Leigh Wood, now 28-4 (17), can say whether he should prolong what has been a thrilling career in light of all he has taken and all he has achieved.