ONLY THE BRAVE

Reporters’ star ratings for main events and undercards are based on in-ring entertainment, competitiveness and whether overall expectation was met

NOTTINGHAM

MARCH 14

LEIGH WOOD made his way to the ring to the strains of Labbi Siffri’s Something Inside So Strong after former Olympian Michael Conlan strutted into the supercharged atmosphere with All Along the Watchtower booming through the Nottingham Arena. To the uninitiated, the Jimi Hendrix song opens with the words, ‘There must be some way outta here, said the joker to the thief. There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief.’ Wow. How apt both tracks were considering what was to come.

Local favourite Wood fully lived up to his “Leigh-thal” tag in front of an incredibly noisy crowd, rallying from a heavy first-round knockdown and several subsequent minutes in a daze to sensationally halt Belfast’s Conlan with just 95 seconds of the pair’s titanic and unforgettable 12-rounder left to run.

Conlan, with several thousand cheering him on, made a cracking start. He sent Wood over backwards with