Nottingham born boxer Leigh Wood is WBA Featherweight Champion of the world, again, after beating Mauricio Lara in his rematch fight in Manchester on Saturday night. Mexican Lara stopped Wood in the seventh round in Nottingham three months ago but the 34-year-old wasted little time in putting that record straight, dominating a fight that went…
“The question is, is Takeru ready to take on the biggest and best challenge of his career?” Bailey Sugden, Tokyo, Japan, March 2023. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, on the other side of the world, Tokyo, Japan to be precise, Nottinghamshire’s ISKA World super lightweight kickboxing champion, Bailey Sugden, was going face-to-face with…
What next for Nottingham’s own, ‘Leighthal’ Leigh Wood? Saturday night’s defeat to world title challenger, Mauricio Lara, he now the WBA World featherweight champion, was the third of Wood’s career, after trainer, Ben Davison, threw in the towel in the closing seconds of the seventh round. It did look, in the first half of the…
Grantham, 11 March 2023, Newark’s world champion kickboxer, Bailey Sugden, defends the world title he won against France’s Ibrahim Madi twelve months prior, in what will be his first fight in a year, against Spaniard, Pedro ‘Mimao’ Ruiz. It’s not because he didn’t want to, or there was nothing available to him, the 25-year-old son…
Having her made her professional, fight debut, back in late August, Worksop’s super flyweight, Nicola ‘Hurricane’ Hopewell, 2-0(1), is preparing herself for what will be her third outing, in just six months, whilst also having a sly glance towards the future. Hopewell, who recently announced that she was being sponsored by OnlyFans sensation, and IBF…
Nottinghamshire sporting royalty was out in force on Wednesday (23 December) night when Salford played host to the annual, BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, one which has been given since way back in 1954. Several stars with Nottinghamshire connections have lifted the main award, including that of Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean, who…
So, what fight fans have expected for quite some time, finally materialised overnight as Leo Santa Cruz relinquished the WBA Super featherweight championship meaning that Nottingham fighter, ‘Leighthal’ Leigh Wood is the divisions, sole, world champion. The decision by Cruz, 38-2-1(19) means that Wood, 26-2(16) is the WBAs only world champion now, and attention, for…
Newark boxer, Jade Grierson, finally gets the opportunity to make her professional debut this festive season when she travels to the Magna Centre, Rotherham, to face Czech fighter, Ester Konecna, 2-19-1, over 4x2s. The show, promoted by Stefy Bull, is one that Grierson, 31, is more than delighted to be a part of, especially after…
Nottingham born former boxer Carl Froch who now works for Sky Sports as a pundit, has been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame where he’ll be announced alongside Mexico’s Rafael Marquez and USA’s Tim Bradley as the male Class of 23 in Canasota, New York next summer. The IBHOF recognises boxers and trainers,…
In leaving no stone unturned, North Notts boxer, Nicola Hopewell (1-0; 1), nicknamed ‘The Hurricane,’ has certainly enjoyed a somewhat differing training camp this time around, as she heads into Friday night’s Doncaster Dome fight, against the Spaniard, Buchra El Quaissi (3-3-3; 1). This may be just the second, professional fight, of the 31-year-old boxer’s…
Nottingham based boxer Ekow Essuman (18-0) beat Londoner Samuel Antwi (14-2) to reclaim his three belts on the undercard of the James Joyce v Joseph Parker bout in Manchester last night. In a classic scrap to start the evening shown live on BT Sport pay-per-view, the Engine outworked and outboxed his resilient opponent to pick…
Nottingham boxer Leigh Wood has regrettably had to postpone his WBA title fight against Mauricio Lara after suffering a torn bicep in training. The fight was supposed to take place on Saturday 24th September in front of a packed crowd at the Motorpoint Arena but will now be rescheduled for a later date. The card…
Mark the date in your diaries. Saturday 24 September 2022, Nottingham Arena… Gedling’s favourite son, and one of Nottingham’s own, ‘Leighthal’ Leigh Wood, 26-2(16) is set to defend his WBA World featherweight title, against the world number six ranked, Mauricio ‘Bronco’ Lara, 24-2-1(17). In winning the title, against Can Xu, in July last year, Wood…
Dream venue? Professional debut? Both boxes will be ticked on Friday night when Worksop boxer, Nicola ‘Hurricane’ Hopewell, steps into the ring at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, on the Dennis Hobson Jnr (Fight Academy) fight-card. In opposing 29-year-old Slovakian veteran, Claudia Ferenczi, 20-96-8(10), Hopewell could not have been afforded a much tougher opponent for her professional…
The wait is almost over as Nottingham’s next boxer prepares to make what, in essence, is a second, professional debut. Not only content with being Worksop’s first, female, professional boxer, Nicola ‘Hurricane’ Hopewell, who enjoyed an unbeaten, six-fight run under BIBA (British & Irish Boxing Association) auspices, is readying herself for her BBBofC (British Boxing…
Debuting with a third round stoppage success back in June 2019, Worksop professional boxer, Declan Cairns, 5-0 (1), is preparing to step through the ropes for what will be his sixth outing, aiming to maintain his unbeaten record. That five-fight winning record was reached when, last time out, at the Harvey Hadden, he saw off…
Prior to his opposing Jordan Grannum back in March this year, the Derbyshire-based, Nottingham-born, middleweight, Jack ‘Juggernaut’ Hutsby, currently 6-0-1, had only had five professional outings, in four years – he’s now heading into what will be his third in as many months, and eighth overall. The flip side of that record however is that,…
Bellator 281 and Nottingham’s Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley finished his career in style on Friday night, weathering a Brazilian storm to score a ‘monster knock-out’ against Wendell Giacomo, a little over four minutes into round two, the 35th of what has been a near, two-decade long, career. Giacomo took it to the 39-year-old Daley, from the…
Nottingham born mixed martial arts star and kickboxer, Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley is to hang up his fists and call time on a 19-year career after one last hoorah tonight at Wembley Arena. Daley’s final Bellator MMA fight will be shown on the BBCi player from 6pm and will be against Brazilian born Wendell Giacamo, who’s…
The big news from Wembley Stadium last night may have been that Tyson Fury knocked out Dillian Whyte to retain his WBC heavyweight title, before pronouncing plans to retire from boxing, but there’s an up and coming star who headlined the undercard, who also retained his titles in dominant fashion, Ekow Essuman of Nottingham beating…
