The calm before the storm: Wood and Warrington agree on one thing at final press conference

The bad blood simmered a little between Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington at the final press conference on Thursday.

There have been plenty of heated words between the pair in the build-up to their highly anticipated rematch tonight , live on DAZN , but things were a bit more cordial when they came face-to-face a few days prior.

Wood was behind on all three scorecards and was being out-boxed before famously stopping Warrington with a brilliant combination when they first met on a memorable night in October 2023.

The two men have agreed on very little ever since, especially about whether Warrington should have been allowed to continue or not in that first encounter, but they both agreed that their return won’t be going the distance this weekend.

When asked by Eddie Hearn if he thinks he can win by stoppage, Warrington was bullish in his response.

“Absolutely. That’s the only way I see it going to be honest with you,” he replied.

“I can’t really see what Leigh is going to do differently to make it go quicker because he tried to punch me in the first fight. We boxed him, we out-fought him, pushed him back to the ropes, went on the back foot – we did everything we had to do.

“But, obviously, we left ourselves very open. He did catch me with a fantastic shot and then five more clean ones after that, the fight was over and that’s how quickly this sport can be changed.

“We know what not to do this and what to maybe press on a little bit more with, so I am very, very confident that the fight will go early.”

They are in the twilight of their careers now and this is very much a must-win fight for both men, but they are both adamant that they have been shining in the gym.

Hearn asked Wood if he thinks he wins this fight by knockout in front of his home fans and the Nottingham native was in no doubt about how he sees it going.

“Yeah, for sure. Just what I’ve been working on, the things I’ve been doing in the gym," Wood responded.

“I know the gym and fight night are two different things, but normally [in] every camp, I’m working on things and I focus too much on those things, and my spars aren’t great.

“I remember the [Micheal] Conlan fight and I had a bad spar, I was sparring three days on the trot, and I went into the weights room, I hid and I was crying.

“Ben came and found me because I do spar quite bad, I probably try too hard, but in this camp, the penny has dropped in my approach to the fight and what I need to do.

“I’ve been nailing it and I’ve been on fire.”

With so much at stake and their careers very much on the line, the simmering tensions are expected to boil over on fight night and we look set for another thriller between these bitter rivals.

3 fight nights, 1 unmissable weekend - only on DAZN

Watch three amazing fights this weekend - Feb 21-22 - exclusively on DAZN. It's Barrios vs. Garcia for the WBC welterweight title on PPV; with Wood vs. Warrington II, and Shields vs. Crews-Dezurn II on DAZN subscription. Get all three all included with DAZN Ultimate Tier. 

For more information, pricing and to watch, click here.