Reece Mould using underdog status to his advantage in British title fight

The 26-year-old from Doncaster will be looking to make it two title wins from two after picking up the English title in his home town in 2019.

He is the training partner of Josh Warrington and has prepared well for Wood by sparring the likes of the Leeds Warrior, Zefla Barrett and Carl Frampton.

Barrett is the current IBF inter-continental super featherweight champion while Frampton is a former two-weight world champion and has a WBO super featherweight bout lined up against American Jamel Herring later this month.

“I have been sparring rounds with people like Josh and Zefla since I was 19,” said Mould ahead of this weekend’s contest at the Wembley Arena.

“For the last six or seven years I have been in with world champions and been holding my own.

“Towards the back end of last year, I did a lot with Carl Frampton.

“We have sparred a lot of different fighters in this camp because we don’t really know what Leigh Wood is going to bring to this fight. We have covered all areas, so we have needed those different sparring partners in.”

Wood is the more seasoned fighter, having held the WBO European featherweight title and the commonwealth belt in the same weight division.

Nottingham-born Wood lost his European title to James Dickens in February 2020 and although Mould has been made the underdog, he is confident of bringing the belt back to Yorkshire.

“I just kept my mind on it,” said Mould, of the British title after waiting 16 months between fights – he last boxed in October 2019.

“There were a few times I was wondering whether it was going to happen. I have been focused and hard at it for the last 12 weeks. I have trained for the last 16 years of my life and it all comes down to this 36 minutes.

“It is going to mean everything when I take that belt home to my family and my little girl.”