Eddie Hearn says the future for the winner of Leigh Wood v Michael Conlan looks extremely bright, describing it as a “life changing moment” for whoever prevails on Saturday.
Hearn promotes the WBA featherweight title fight at Nottingham Arena with his man Wood walking out as the home fighter in front of a 10,000-sell-out crowd.
With the Kiko Martinez v Josh Warrington IBF title fight, also a Hearn card, taking place this month, the featherweight division is in good health right now and there are quality match-ups to be made in the future.
Boxing Social’s Andi Purewal asked the Matchroom promoter if the winners of both fights will meet one another.
“I think so,” he replied.
“There are so many different scenarios that could come from either fight and there’s so many different scenarios that could come from a future fight. Could be an outdoor fight at the City Ground for Leigh Wood against Josh Warrington. Could be a fight at Elland Road between Josh Warrington and Michael Conlan. Could be Conlan against Martinez in Belfast.
“When you win a world title the plan is to unify as quickly as possible, and we’ll see what happens with [Leo] Santa Cruz. He could be in line for a shot at the winner of this fight, that’s another great fight. But certainly, the winner’s going to be experiencing a life changing moment.”
The state of play with the WBA at 126lbs is not exactly straight forward. Wood will defend his WBA Regular title against Conlan while Santa Cruz sits as the ‘Super’ champion with the sanctioning body. The 33-year-old Mexican hasn’t fought at the official 126lbs weight limit for some time.
“The winner of this, I guess, will be ordered to fight Santa Cruz for the Super championship but I actually see the winner of this fight being elevated to Super champion because I don’t think Leo Santa Cruz will box at 126,” said Hearn.
Click here to watch Eddie Hearn’s interview with Boxing Social.