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The Fight Team
May 26, 2023
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Fight With Teddy Atlas Newsletter, your one stop shop for all things combat sports related, brought to you by Teddy and The Fight team.
Every Friday We Bring You:
A combat sports news digest with all the headlines you need to know from Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts.
Highlights from the podcast and across the fight world.
Fight times and information you need to know ahead of time.
How to’s and tips for Boxing from Teddy himself.
Fight News From Around The 🌍
Wood’s Revenge or Lara’s Statement
The first of this weekends three world title fights kicks off with the hard hitting Mauricio Lara defending his WBA featherweight title against Leigh Wood, having snatched the title by knockout back in February in Wood’s hometown of Nottingham.
Lara hasn’t heard the final bell in a bout since early 2020, and will be confident in being able to find success on UK soil again. Another win against Wood would be a major statement to the rest of the division, positioning the 25 year old for big fights back stateside, where his brutal knockout power and pressure will draw crowds.
Wood was unable to use the crowd to his advantage in the first fight like he did against Mick Conlan, where he rallied from behind to produce one of the knockouts of the year back in March 2022.
This time around he’ll look to build on the early success he was having in the first fight, and with the more than respectable pop he has himself, he has more than enough to keep Lara at bay if he’s vigilant for all 12 rounds.
Friends Turned Foes
WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie and Chris Billam-Smith used to train under the same roof with coach Shane McGuigan.
They’ve done hundreds of rounds against each other, but on Saturday they’ll have to put that all behind them as they face off for Okolie’s title.
The fight will be in Billam-Smith’s hometown of Bournemouth, at the stadium of his beloved soccer team. Even though Okolie is the one defending the title, there’s a lot of pressure on the challenger in front of thousands of his home fans in the biggest fight of his career.
Okolie’s title reign has been somewhat underwhelming since he won the vacant title by knocking out Krzysztof Glowacki in 2021. He’s made 3 defences since, with 2 of them going the distance. Before them, he’d been on a 6 fight knockout streak, which he’ll be looking to resume tomorrow night.
A big performance from Okolie in front of a confident and dangerous Billam Smith will be the kind of marquee performance his title reign has been crying out for.
Given just how well these two will know each other, both on the physical mental side, it’ll be fascinating to see how it all plays out in the ring with a world title on the line.
2nd Time Lucky?
Irish Olympian and fan favourite Mick Conlan gets his second shot at a featherweight title, this time against the slick Mexican Luis Alberto Lopez.
Alberto Lopez is fresh off of a hard fought victory against Josh Warrington, where he withstood the Brit’s pressure and captured the IBF title in the UK (beating the judges as well).
Given how hard fought his victory was, he’ll know he has what it takes to dig deep if necessary, as he comes into hostile territory again in Conlan’s backyard in Northern Ireland.
Conlan presents a very different type of proposition to Warrington, whose take one to give one is a stark contrast to Conlan’s methodic boxer-puncher style.
He’s also got the hunger of chasing that first world title strap that has eluded him since he first turned pro after the 2016 Olympics, to a lot of justifiable hype and excitement.
Alberto Lopez stands between him and his world title ambitions with a the champ having a chance to cement himself as a real player at featherweight by claiming two high profile scalps in a row.
What to look for in the fights:
Jab. Wood was having good success with the jab to the head and body before he was hurt in the 7th. With more output, as well as mixing in his own powerful straight right, look for him to be more disciplined this time around.
Pressure. Billam-Smith has great inside fighting, and Okolie is notoriously difficult to pin down on the inside thanks to his size and ring IQ. If CBS can rough things up on the inside and work on the champ, he stands a very good chance.
Pinpoint. Alberto Lopez fights with his hands down, which allows him good mobility at times, but against a sharpshooter like Conlan will leave him vulnerable. Look for Mick Conlan to exploit this at some point.
Enough is Enough
Please take a spare 10 seconds to sign our petition to create a Federal Boxing commission to fight against systemic corruption and incompetence in our great sport.
If you still need some convincing, watch Teddy lay out the case for reform below.
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
Boxing: Lara vs Wood (Saturday 27th/Sunday 28th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 2pm Eastern/ 11am Pacific | Main Event: 5:30pm Eastern/ 2:30pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 7pm | Main Event: 10:30pm
🇦🇺 Full Card: 4am Eastern/ 2am Western | Main event: 7:30am Eastern/ 5:30am Western
Boxing: Okolie vs Billam-Smith (Saturday 27th/Sunday 28th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 2pm Eastern/ 11am Pacific | Main Event: 5pm Eastern/ 2pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 7pm | Main Event: 10pm
🇦🇺 Full Card: 4am Eastern/ 2am Western | Main event: 7am Eastern/ 5am Western
Boxing: Alberto Lopez vs Conlan (Saturday 27th/Sunday 28th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 2pm Eastern/ 11am Pacific | Main Event: 4pm Eastern/ 1pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 7pm | Main Event: 9pm
🇦🇺 Full Card: 4am Eastern/ 2am Western | Main event: 6am Eastern/ 4am Western