Conlan is Wood’s mandatory challenger after his interim title win over TJ Doheny at Falls Park in Belfast last year.

His most recent victory saw him move to 16-0 in his professional career after his controversial exit at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

The WBA had opened up purse bids for the fight on Monday morning with Matchroom and Top Rank seen as the favourites to land it.

Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn announced their bidding victory on Twitter that evening: “Delighted to win the purse bid for our Champ @itsLeighWood to defend his WBA World title against @mickconlan11 – official announcement coming soon.”

Leigh Wood, who is represented by Matchroom, won the WBA belt in July when he knocked Chinese boxer Can Xu down in the 12th round of their fight at Matchroom HG Garden.

The fight is set to be broadcast on DAZN due to their partnership with Matchroom Boxing and is expected to take place in 2022, possibly on St Patrick’s Day – Wood is currently recovering from an injury.

This bout will be the first World title bout that Conlan has fought at professional level – he has previously fought for and won the WBO inter-continetal featherweight and bantamweight belts as well as the featherweight division’s WBA interim belt, as previously mentioned.

The post Michael Conlan to fight Leigh Wood for WBA World Featherweight title appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Mengue Ayissi was the aggressor in the fight with Walsh more than happy to sit back and enjoy a defensive, counter-attacking role.

The Cameroonian swung wild and dangerously throughout the fight, getting docked points twice in the three rounds for dangerous hits.

Four of the five judges working at the match scored the first round in favour of Aidan Walsh after a strong finish to the round displayed the differences in quality between the two fighters.

The 24-year-old from Belfast stuck to his gameplan and continued to cut a frustrated figure out of his opponent, who couldn’t get the better of Walsh.

The Olympic boxer’s sister, fellow Olympian Michaela, was audible throughout the fight, cheering her brother on as promised.

The Cameroonian’s first point-docking was given out in the second round for hits to the back of the head.

His constant counter-jabs picked away at Mengue Ayissi and earned the respect of the judges, who all scored the second round in favour of the Irishman.

Mengue Ayissi earned a second deduction at the start of the third round and it gave the boxer some urgency to secure a grand finish but it was too little, too late for the Olympian.

Walsh was even more conservative in the final round after the second deduction, knowing the fight was won if he stayed on his feet.

The judges awarded the Belfast boxer a unanimous decision win (30-25×3, 29-26, 28-27) over his opponent and gave the Team Ireland athlete a ticket to the Welterweight quarter-finals.

Walsh will face Mauritius’ Merven Clair in the quarter-final after the latter beat number-four seed Zeyad Ishiash from Jordan, with the fighters close to Olympic bronze.

The fight will take place in the early hours of Friday morning.

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