Video: Leigh Wood speaks to Notts TV’s Owen Shipton.
Boxer Leigh Wood says he is looking forward to making his long-awaited return to the ring and targeting a domestic title bout.
The highly-rated featherweight from Gedling returns to the ring after not fighting for a year and faces Lithuanian Simas Volosinas in Bingham on Saturday (June 24) night.
Wood has previously beaten Volosinas on points but says he hopes to get one over Volosinas again over six rounds and make a come back.
The 28-year-old Wood thwarted Josh Wood two years ago, an eliminator for the British title, and proceeded to beat Lee Glover in an impressive display.
But injury hampered his progress.
Wood said: “I’m excited to get back in the ring doing what I enjoy doing.
“By the end of the year I’ll have hopefully picked up another prestigious title, the British or commonwealth or above.
“A lot of kids fight in eliminators and stuff after they’ve been out. You can’t just jump back in and say ‘I deserve that’.
“Whatever comes first. There’s a lot of inter-continental, international titles knocking about – whatever comes first.
“My hard work is going to pass that whenever it comes for the title before the end of the year.”
Wood fights on a bill which includes Omari Grant, an ex-grime artist who will make his ring debut.
Ekow Essuman, of promoter Frank Warren’s stable, will also feature, the former Olympic welterweight taking on Arvydas Trizno.
And Wood says the occasion in Nottingham will allow him to catch up with friends and fans after the fight over a drink.
“I’ve got a massive group of people who have followed me for the last four or five years – it’s grown and grown and grown,” he said.
“As an amateur people travelled quite a distance for me as well. To come back and box in Nottingham, it’s a bit of a treat for them.
“They’ve travelled all over the shop, we can have a get together after. Some of them I haven’t seen for a while.
“They’re not all my friends I see regularly who come and support me, some of them are the general public as well. I like to see them and say thank you for supporting me and have a drink and shake their hands after.”
Wood says he aims to follow in Carl Froch’s footsteps and sell-out Nottingham Arena – where he watched the Cobra defeat Damon Hague for the Super Middleweight Title in 2004.
He said: “I want to fill the arena, 100 per cent. I watched Carl go from the same amateur club as me, boxing on small hall shows that weren’t very big, there weren’t a lot of people there.
“There were only 200 people at his first fight. I watched him start at the ice arena with half the net across and he didn’t really fill it out then.
“Then he went for the Damon Hague fight and it was packed out. I was looking around thinking, ‘wow, all these people have come to watch Carl fight’.
“It was crazy and he went on to win a world title. I was screaming from the Gods at the back of the ice arena at the time. His following was massive. If I could fill the ice area, after getting the British title, the fights get bigger. It’s something to tick off what I want to do.”
Wood fights at Bingham Leisure Centre tomorrow evening.
