Leigh Wood beats Josh Wale on points to secure British featherweight title shot
Sunday 25 October 2015 01:14, UK
Leigh Wood has secured a shot at the British featherweight title after beating Josh Wale in a one-sided points win.
The Nottingham lad who shares the Wincobank Gym with Sheffield star Kell Brook won on all three cards on Saturday and should now be set for a showdown with current domestic boss Ryan Walsh.
Wood was always the favourite and although he was caught numerous times, Wale deserves credit for keeping on the attack in front of a packed Sheffield Arena.
The judges scored it 99-91, 99-92 and 98-92 in Wood's favour, leaving him with 16-1-KO8 and looking ahead already.
"I want Ryan Walsh now - I haven't boxed an eliminator because I don't want the shot!"
The first round saw Wale come forward, only for the Nottingham fighter to pick him off but by the second, the straightforward approach worked a treat right at the end of the round, when Wood was caught close in.
Wood though, trained by Dom Ingle, soon slipped into a more suitable rhythm, staying on the move then landing some sharp counters whenever Wale got in close again, the bodyshots the first significant response in the second.
The uppercut emerged in the third and then the right to the body, leaving Wale open to all sorts of counter-shots on either side and that alone gave Wood greater confidence.
A fast and furious fifth saw him step up a gear with a six-punch combination and a smart jab on the slide that would have stopped many in their stride, but Wale - to his credit - just kept coming.
It looked like it was all catching up with the 27-year-old from Barnsley and even when they were in close, he was caught almost every time he tried to land himself.
It carried on in the same way before two big rights from Wood looked like they might have brought the proceedings to a halt, but again his opponent hit back, albeit without the same precision and spark.
There was a cracking welterweight bout to finish off the night as Atif Shafiq and Jamie Robinson settled their scores in a brutal and brilliant eight-rounder.
The pair had fallen out ahead of the weight-in and there was more than mouthing off in the first round when Shafig put Robinson on the floor with a perfect left uppercut. He made it up and came fighting back for the next seven rounds as his nerves faded and the action increased.
It was nip and tuck and the knockdown aside, there was little to choose between them as they swapped shots all the way to the end, that saw Rotherham's Shafiq get the decision, 78-74.
Before the live action began, plenty of Yorkshire hopes took their chance to appear on a big boxing night in Sheffield, with heavyweight Dave Allen leading the way.
The Conisbrough puncher moved to 8-0-KO 5 by beating French tough man Fabrice Aurieng from Marseille, but had to settle for the decision over six hard rounds.
Unbeaten cruiserweight Russ Henshaw had to settle for a points win over Latvian Reinis Porozovs but took his professional record to 6-0-KO2.
The first fights saw local lightweight Lee Appleyard, from Rotherham, move to (5-1-KO0) against Andy Harris, whose winless run now goes to 24 fights.
Another Yorkshire lightweight, prospect Steven Hale (7-0-KO2), made it seven out of seven as he out-pointed Dean Evans (2-9-KO1) who came into the fight with a win under his belt a week ago.
