FEATHER DUST-UP

Conlan seriously hurt in late drama

MICHAEL Conlan was left seriously hurt after he was knocked out of the ring by Leigh Wood in the 12th round of a dramatic fight.

The Belfast man looked to be on his way to ripping the WBA featherweight title from Wood until a huge right hand sent him crashing out of the ring in the last few seconds.

Conlan, 30, was pinned to the ropes when a right knocked him out and a succession of shots sent him through them and he was seriously hurt in a dramatic and worrying scene at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham.

He was taken away by medics on a stretcher after being attended to for over five minutes.

It appeared he was knocked out by a right before the follow up shot sent him out of the ring.

Wood initially celebrated wildly before curtailing his delight when he realised how serious his rival was hurt.

Conlan started in sensational fashion as he floored the defending champion in the first with a big left from the southpaw stance.

The bell saved the Nottingham man as he got to his feet and stumbled back to his corner.

Conlan had him hurt again in the second.

He couldn’t miss with the left hand and was on cruise control even with a nasty cut on the side of his left eye.

The former world amateur champion was having huge success to the body and hurt Wood with them time and time again.

Wood was on the way to losing the title in his first defence as Conlan caught him with another left counter in the 10th.

Wood responded with a sustained attack which got the home crowd on their feet.

Conlan then hit the canvas in the 11th after he was caught off balance by a left hook. But he didn’t heed the warning signs and traded again.

This time Wood pinned him to the ropes and delivered the knockout blow which led to the worrying scenes at the end.