Three and easy for sharp Wood

Leigh Wood came close to achieving what 47 men before him have failed to do and stop Pavels Senkovs with punches.

Instead, the well-schooled Nottingham featherweight [pictured after his paid debut in his home city last year] settled for a 40-37 four-threes nod from referee Howard Foster on the Hennessy Sports-promoted bill at Rotherham's Magna Centre last night [February 18].

Durable Senkovs, already a veteran of almost 50 professional fights at just 22 and who's held former British title challenger Sean Hughes to a draw recently, has only ever been stopped on cuts [two occasions], but Wood's sharp boxing and chopping rights forced the referee to take a closer look in the penultimate session of the 12-minute contest.

But the Nottinghamshire-based Latvian [9st 1 1/4lbs] stoutly survived the two-fisted onslaught from the tall, lean and neat-boxing former Junior ABA champion, who brought a coach-load of noisy followers from Gedling, and did enough to share one round [though, in honesty, i struggled to see which round that was; i had it a shut-out] on Mr Alexander's card.

Using good footwork to glide in and out of range and score with left hooks to the body and rights to the head throughout, 23-year-old Wood [9st 2 1/2lbs] was in command. He varied the attack in rounds one and two - body-head-body and then head-body-head - and though Senkovs was dangerous with the right, a weapon that has brought about both his pro victories, the East Midlander stayed alert and one-step ahead.

That's three out of three now for Ingle-trained Leigh, who's yet to drop one of the 14 rounds he's boxed so far. When he made space with his feet to slot in those long rights, the unbeaten prospect looked very measured and assured. He looks to have a solid future ahead of him.

But two of Wood's gym-mates, Sheffield-based super-featherweight first-timer Leo D'Erlanger and Barnsley's former British Masters light-middleweight champion Lee Noble, didn't manage to register victories. 

D'Erlanger escaped his four-twos show-opener against chunky Ryan McNicol with a 38 apiece draw that looked about right for me. Shaven-headed Scottish southpaw McNicol, now 3-14-3, lost on points to Wood in November but found the wiry, nervous debutant a more manageable assignment. Referee was former pro Michael Alexander and both weighed 9st 3 1/2lbs.

And capable but erratic Noble [11st 9lbs] lost a 39-37 four-threes decision to Irishman Dee Walsh [11st 6lbs 10oz], who's now undefeated in two. 

In a scrappy contest which saw heads frequently come together and left Noble cut over the right eye and puts his fight with Dudley's Ryan Aston in jeopardy, Walsh's cleaner [if less frequent] work won the day. I thought a draw would have been a fair result after the always-circling Belfast boxer, 22, clearly won the second and the local boxer, now 13-21-2 (3), took the final session by some distance. Rounds one and three were even. Howard Foster officiated.

Image courtesy of Andrew Millwall.