Nottingham’s Leigh Wood returned to action on Saturday after a long layoff with over a year and a half out outside the ring and against an in-form Belfast born boxer in Anthony Cacace, the rustiness was a bridge too far to gap as the Gedling based super featherweight ended up on the receiving of some big shots in defeat.

Cacace retaining his IBO title at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena with a ninth-round stoppage as Wood backed off from some serious assault late on, before his corner threw in the towel to stop the fight despite Wood shaken, but still on his feet.

The scorecards had Cacace up on all three counts, the Northern Irishman, who like Wood, beat Josh Warrington last time out, now has a record of 24 fights and 23 wins with just one defeat. Wood’s tally now sitting at 28 wins and 4 defeats, disappointed with his showing, after the bout, Wood considered his options moving forward when asked, not ruling out retirement, he did perhaps reason his ring rustiness from being out for so long, but had no complaints with the verdict, now 36-years-old he stated on X. “Respect to Anto, no excuses the better man won. Love to everyone who turned out for me last night. You were unbelievable. Going to have a few weeks to process things and see what’s next.”

The former WBA title holder has come back from defeats before and has always shown true fighter like spirit in and out of the ring and is a warrior who has proved he can give anybody in the world a good fight. It’ll be great to see him continue doing what he loves and getting a couple of further big pay days but it might be a step back to move forward, for Cacace, he has set his sights already on American WBC belt holder O’Shaquie Foster.

On a packed night of boxing action in Nottingham there was better news for another home-grown talent as Ezra Taylor picked up perhaps his biggest career win to date after edging Troy Jones in a ten round contest to pick up his twelfth pro victory in as many bouts.

The light heavyweight now 30 won on all three scorecards showing power and work rate with the more eye-catching shots on the night.

And on the same fight card there was also more positive news for Mansfield boxer Nico Leivers who beat Darwing Martinez in a six round contest on points. The 25-year-old now has a professional record of 7 wins and a draw, the one blemish on his fledgling record a draw against Angel Gabriel Chavez in just his third fight, that was due to a cut where the Referee had to stop the fight after a head clash left Chavez needing medical attention.

*Main image @itsLeighWood Wood with Cacace after the fight in Nottingham.