WOOD AIMS TO FELL WARRINGTON IN FOREST

LEIGH WOOD is the only British boxer in possession of a featherweight world crown.

But the 34-year-old knows that, in the eyes of most UK fight fans, he still plays second fiddle to Josh Warrington.

And he does not expect things to be any different until the two of them come together to settle the featherweight debate for good. Nottingham

Forest fan Wood (right) defends his WBA belt against Mauricio Lara on Saturday.

Lara inflicted the first of Warrington’s two defeats two years ago and Wood said: “I just need to keep winning. Josh has had much better wins than me, so he is rightfully a bigger name.

“If you look at his resume – Lee Selby: unbelievable win,

Carl Frampton: unbelievable win, ‘Kid’ Galahad: I rate that as a massive win – the list goes on and he has earned his stripes.

“This fight against Lara, for the public, will start to turn the tide, especially as he’s the only person to stop Warrington.

“But not because Lara is miles better than Warrington, it was just a poor styles match-up.

“Would Lara beat the fighters Warrington did? Probably not. So the Warrington fight is still a massive fight for me. It’s all eyes on Lara first – he’s dangerous, hungry and it’s his first shot at a world title.

“I’m expecting him to be better than I’ve seen him and I’ve told him he needs to be because I want this to be my best performance yet.

“Then it could be Warrington, Luis Alberto Lopez, the Michael Conlan rematch, if he can win a world title. I don’t care – but it has to be at the City Ground.”