Michael Conlan, Ex Leigh Wood opponent, believes that Anthony Cacace is too powerful for his ex counterpart.
Conlan lost to Wood by 12th round ko in a fight of the year candidate back in 2022 but believes the Nottingham fighter could be out of his depth.
Wood has been out of the ring for a while after having disputes with his old promotion Matchroom but has now got his homecoming.
Anthony Cacace has been a lot more active fighting twice in the last year which is the reason Conlan believes Cacace has the edge in this fight.
“The main thing which is leaning into this is momentum. Leigh Wood has been out of the ring longer than I was. I was 16 months out and he’s 20 months out of the ring.”
Conlan Thinks It’s One Too Many For Wood-
Despite being previously active throughout his career Conlan believes this period could be one too many for Wood.
“When he fought me (March 2022), he didn’t fight for a year after that, which was an awful long time. He fought Mauricio Lara in early May the following year and they rematched quite quickly and then he fought Josh Warrington (October 2023) all in the same year. He was active that year, but he’s been very inactive since, he hasn’t fought since he beat Warrington. That’s an awful long time, it’s nearly two years to the ring.”
The Irishman also has belief in the win coming by stoppage saying that Cacace has the power and momentum to beat Leigh Wood inside the distance.
“Anto is getting in there with proper momentum, proper activity and the belief of a champion. I believe Anto wins convincingly, possibly by stoppage because Anto also punches hard. They both punch hard, yes, but I think Anto’s skillset is better. I think he’s the better boxer out of the both of them.”
Another contribution to Conlan’s prediction is the amount of wars that Leigh Wood has been through.
Wood has been through some of the most exciting fights in recent British boxing history but this has come with a price.
That price could cause his downfall, Wood’s fights against Michael Conlan and Josh Warrington in particular where he came back from being down on the cards to win by knockout.
“Leigh’s been through the mill a lot of times now and there’s only so many times you can do that. I’m leaning heavily towards Anto in this fight.”
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