Leigh Wood vs. Josh Warrington II | DAZN - 21 February 2026

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Bare knuckle has become for boxers what boxing is for MMA fighters.

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Didn’t think they’d end up making this..

Anyone actually want to see it?

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MATCHROOM ANNOUNCES EARLY 2026 SCHEDULE: THREE WORLD TITLE FIGHTS ACROSS FOUR CARDS

Matchroom chief Eddie Hearn promised to begin the 2026 slate with a series of big fight nights and Friday night, they announced four shows across UK and U.S. markets in January and February.

Having won the purse bid for Andy Cruz's impending world lightweight title shot, it has now been confirmed the Cuban will face newly-minted champion Raymond Muratalla atop a January 24 show at Las Vegas' Fontainebleau. This is the same venue WBO flyweight beltholder Anthony Olascuaga defended his title as part of the Canelo-Crawford fight week festivities in September.

Bozy Ennis-trained contender Cruz (6-0, 3 KOs) will fancy his chances against Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs), especially given head coach Robert Garcia's admission the champion could be headed up to 140 pounds after this first championship defence.

The following weekend, January 31, another IBF title will be up for grabs when unbeaten junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev makes his long-awaited second defence against Sunderland's Josh Kelly at Newcastle's 11,000-seater Utilita Arena.

Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) will again venture into enemy territory as he ends a 15-month absence from competition, though that won't faze him as Kelly (17-1-1, 9 KOs) has flattered to deceive at times and will face a serious step-up in competition on his return to Matchroom.

Three weeks later sees a rematch more than two years in the making, when former world champions Leigh Wood (28-4, 17 KOs) and Josh Warrington (32-4-1, 8 KOs) collide at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena. Wood trailed 59-55 on two scorecards and 58-56 on the other, before landing a right hook and flurry Warrington didn't see coming to end proceedings in the seventh round.

They've both suffered humbling defeats and contemplated their future since then, but will run back one of 2023's most entertaining spectacles in Wood's hometown after his ninth-round stoppage defeat by Anthony Cacace in May.

The following weekend, Matchroom head stateside after brokering a deal to ensure the IBF/WBO title unification between Eduardo Nunez and Emanuel Navarrete is the next port of call for both men in Glendale, Arizona - home to one of the country's largest Mexican populations.

Nunez (29-1, 27 KOs) didn't have it all his own way but earned a gritty 12-round decision win over Christopher Diaz-Velez in his September homecoming, having overwhelmed Masanori Rikiishi for the 130-pound strap in Yokohama, Japan four months earlier.

Hearn bemoaned 'Sugar' feeling flat and drained from an emotional week, but he must be sharper next time out after facing off with Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) in the ring post-fight.

The 30-year-old was slated to be facing Philippines' challenger Charly Suarez in an immediate rematch of their May 10 matchup, which ended prematurely due to an accidental headbutt and was later ruled a no-contest after seven completed rounds.

Instead, fans will be treated to an explosive all-Mexican showdown in a weight division needing a jolt like this with high-risk, high-reward opportunities on the horizon.

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Leigh Wood considering retirement ahead of Josh Warrington rematch

Former world champions Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington on Thursday shared a live face-off to promote their rematch on February 21.

Wood stopped Warrington in Sheffield in October 2023 and Warrington claimed he would have continued in a fight he felt he was winning. Wood believes the fight was rightly stopped, and the fighters have disputed the ending since.

Bad blood has manifested in the two years since because they were initially unable to agree a deal to fight one another again. But cooler heads have since prevailed, and they will box their return at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say I hate him, but I don’t like him now,” said Warrington. “Since the first fight, he’s never shown any respect, even though all I ever did was answer questions of what went wrong and why what happened happened in the fight.

“I thought the fight was going as I expected it until that round seven. I’ve got to make sure that same mistake doesn’t happen again, but up until that moment I was having an easy night.”

Warrington is 35 years old and Wood is two years older. Both have significant fanbases, with Warrington likely to bring thousands of fans from Leeds to Wood’s hometown.

Wood is 28-4 (17 KOs), and they bickered over the stoppage again on Thursday.

Warrington, 32-4-1 (8 KOs), maintains he was okay to continue having been dropped heavily in round seven when the stoppage came.

“It’s like someone running the 200m and saying I was winning, and they lost,” said Wood. “You were winning, but at what cost?”

Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn said that the fight should have happened a year ago.

“If I lose this fight, it takes away the credibility of the first fight, so I need to do a better job this time,” said Wood. “I don’t know if I’m even going to fight again after this fight. I haven’t even thought about it. But, for me, I need to win this fight. Everything comes down to winning this fight to me.”

Wood predicted he would win by stoppage, and said he was preparing for the best Warrington. He also said that making the weight hurt him last time.

Warrington, for his part, insisted that he had hoped to outbox Wood in every round but had made a mistake and paid the price.

“That’s the truth,” he said. “I just don’t believe that you should have been able to win a round against me. So, that’s just it. When I beat him in his own backyard, if there’s a third there, I’d happily go to Leeds and have another one there. He’s wanted a stadium fight for some time. If he wants a stadium fight, we could go to Elland Road [home of Leeds United].”

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[mickey1975]

This is such a poor headliner. Really scraping the barrel stuff. Josh is shot to pieces and who knows about Wood?

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Leigh Wood, Josh Warrington Draw Battle Lines Before February Rematch

Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington have predicted that they will end their rivalry by knockout when they clash in a junior lightweight rematch on February 21.

More than two years after their controversial first meeting, Warrington (32-4, 8 KOs) and Wood (28-4, 17 KOs) are finally going to settle their differences. The fight will take place in Wood’s hometown of Nottingham. DAZN will stream the event.

On Thursday, the junior lightweights met in Birmingham to officially announce the fight. Much of a live "Face-Off" was spent rehashing the controversial first fight of October 2023 when Warrington was dramatically stopped after building a comfortable lead on the scorecards.

As the bell sounded to end the seventh round, Wood detonated a stunning short right hand that floored Warrington. Somehow, the Leeds man clambered to his feet and made it back to his corner only to turn around and see referee, Michael Alexander, waving off the fight.

Since then, the two have spoken about the fight and the finish time and time again and each is entrenched in their views.

Both are nearing the end of their illustrious careers and the rematch could boil down to a simple case of who is willing to dig deeper and go further.

In May, Wood’s trainer, Ben Davison, threw in the towel to save him in the ninth round of a punishing fight with former IBF junior lightweight champion Anthony Cacace. Warrington criticized the desire Wood showed that night.

“When you talk about resilience, I didn't run off to my corner. I'd rather go out on my back. He sprinted to his corner against Cacace,” Warrington, a two-time IBF featherweight champion, said.

“I've never seen anybody do 100 metres in the ring.”

Wood, two-time WBA featherweight champion, has forged his reputation on digging out spectacular wins in the most unlikely circumstances. The 37-year-old didn’t take kindly to the suggestion that he had ran away from a fight.

“I didn’t. I sprinted away from it to get a breather,” he said.

“I'd have still been there to get knocked out. My corner saved me, really. I probably would have got chinned, my corner saved me. But I'd have never jacked. You've never seen me jack. In my whole life, you've never seen me jack.

“I'm going to hit you so hard. I can't wait.”

In September 2024, Warrington temporarily retired after his own defeat to Cacace but some time away from the ring and the birth of his son caused the 35-year-old to reassess his relationship with the sport.

Once he made the decision to return, securing a rematch with Wood instantly gravitated towards the top of his list of priorities.

As much as the Alexander’s decision to stop the first fight still rankles, Warrington is equally annoyed by the lack of respect he feels Wood has paid him since. There was a tense but respectful atmosphere first time around but — for Warrington at least — the rematch has a personal edge.

“I don't hate him but I dislike him. I dislike the way he's gone about things and it's just going to be enjoyable to share a ring with him,” Warrington said.

“I've got so much ammunition to drive me in training and to push me. Not that I need it. ... We've worked on things just in case it were to come about so I've been more than prepared.

“He never expected me to box him — box his head off — for the first half of the fight. He can sit there smiling all smug and stuff and say it was all part of the plan."

Wood understands that beating Warrington for a second time would mean. Another victory would end the debate about the first fight once and for all, but it would also mean that Wood can remain in control of how his career ends.

A defeat would bring everything to an instant, disappointing halt.

“I'm not even thinking about after this fight. I'm thinking about winning this fight. Do what I normally do, prepare how I normally prepare,” he said.

“This is just as important as the first fight for me. Because if I lose this fight, it takes away the credibility of the first fight. So I need to make sure I do a better job this time.

“I don't know if I'm going to fight again after this fight. I haven't even thought about it. But for me, I need to win this fight.

“Everything comes down to winning this fight for me.”

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[veriton]

I like Wood v Warrington, two known quantities at the end of their careers but what great nights they've given us. Tempted to get a ticket to see live.

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ISHMAEL DAVIS' FIRST BRITISH TITLE DEFENCE VS. BILAL FAWAZ SET FOR FEB. 21

Two weeks after outpointing Sam Gilley to claim the British and Commonwealth junior middleweight titles, Ishmael Davis already has his next assignment booked.

The 30-year-old will make the first defence of his newly minted belts against English champion Bilal Fawaz (10-1-1, 3 KOs) as part of the Leigh Wood-Josh Warrington II undercard in Nottingham come February 21.

The confirmation came on Matchroom's post-fight show, Small Talk, as the pair engaged in a pre-planned backstage segment from a burger van minutes after Ben Whittaker's vicious first-round knockout of Benjamin Gavazi.

Fawaz sat ringside and gets his wish to box for the famed Lonsdale belt, just four months after his 10-round majority decision upset win over Davis' ex-sparring partner, Junaid Bostan, in their rematch.

After rehabbing from a training camp injury that saw his matchup with Ryan Kelly collapse, Davis (15-3, 6 KOs) has maintained the sort of active schedule that makes people take note.

He fell short during a much-anticipated matchup with WBA's No. 3-rated contender Caoimhin Agyarko (18-0, 7 KOs) on the Lewis Crocker-Paddy Donovan II undercard in September.

That remains a sore point of contention for him, two months on, though he's insisted his Gilley scalp at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this month is the "end of the beginning."

He told Matchroom's Jamie Moore: "It feels good to be British champion, know it's an achievement but this is where the fun starts, I'm looking forward to the future. I understand there's a long way to go and I'll achieve everything I believe."

Without mentioning Fawaz by name, he said he'll be facing "a character, good opponent and another person I believe I'm better than, so I'll show just that on February 21," before the older man emerged, with a WWE-style introduction as he grinned on camera.

"You're British champion but not for long, I promise you," Fawaz insisted.

They then traded thinly veiled jabs, Fawaz intimating Davis lacks the intelligence needed to outsmart him - "just a muscle fighter" - while reminding the Leeds man of his previous defeats.

"Junaid is better than you, everyone knows that, look what I did to him. Imagine what I'll do to you, you need to step aside otherwise I'll finish your career, I'm not joking dude, I've never wanted to hurt someone so badly," Fawaz continued.

Davis couldn't stop laughing and the pair shook hands before posing for photographs as well as a first face-off.

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Dave Allen will be on this card.

Then he wants TKV in the Summer in Sheffield.

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Josh Warrington feels resurrected after rash retirement decision

Last September, Josh Warrington quietly laid down his gloves in the middle of the ring at Wembley Stadium.

The two-time IBF featherweight champion had just lost frustrating, disappointing decision to The Ring’s No. 3 ranked junior lightweight, Anthony Cacace, on the undercard of the heavyweight title fight between Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua.

After years of bad luck, bad results, injury and frustration, Warrington made his way home to Leeds believing that he had boxed for the final time but it didn’t take long for the 35-year-old to come to the conclusion that he couldn’t leave the sport that has given him so much in such tame fashion.

He now has the opportunity to make some real noise.

Back in October 2023, Warrington took on two-time WBA featherweight champion, Leigh Wood. Written off beforehand, Warrington produced his best performance for years before being controversially stopped on his feet at the end of the seventh round.

On February 21 he gets the opportunity to exact revenge on Wood. The two will meet at Nottingham in a 12-round junior lightweight fight. DAZN will stream the action.

“Last year I mourned for three weeks because I’d retired and that [boxing] is all I've known since I've been a seven-year-old lad,” Warrington (32-4-1, 8 KOs) said at the fight’s launch press conference.

“It's shaped my life, it's shaped my family's life, it's shaped everything but I’ve just put things in perspective and I’m going into this fight in a different mindset and physically, well, you can't argue what I'm doing in the gym.”

In April, Warrington got back to winning ways with a low profile eight round victory over Asad Khan but has spent the remainder of 2025 working in the gym, staying fit and looking for a big fight.

Spending months grinding away for little reward is a test for anyone who has achieved what Warrington has but he revealed that he has thrown himself into his work.

A large hostile crowd should be in attendance in Nottingham and Warrington feels ready to step back into the limelight.

“Over this last year, it's been something that I've really needed,” he said.

“ ranked number one in the world. Top 10 in pound-for-pound rankings and then defeat, rematches, broken jaws and then waiting 10 months, waiting 11 months for fights. It's like my head's been all over the place.

“Last Christmas and the birth of my little baby son, it just made me step away from boxing. Now, I feel like I'm resurrected.”

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Dave Allen, Molly McCann, Ishmael Davis-Bilal Fawaz added to Wood-Warrington card

Former UFC star Molly McCann returns to the ring on Saturday, February 21, on the undercard of the rematch between Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington.

The bill is at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, Wood’s hometown., and McCann, who turned pro as a boxer last year at junior featherweight, said: “I cannot wait to fight on the Wood-Warrington II undercard,” said the Liverpool woman.

"I know how amazing both sets of fans are. Trust me, the atmosphere at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham is going to be absolutely electric. I’m looking forward to sharing the rest of the card with some incredible fighters. But, mainly, I’m very excited to show how much I have levelled up since my last fight and get this massive year off to a good start. It's huge for me.”

Also on the bill, Ishamel Davis – 15-3 (6 KOs) – makes the first defense of his British 154lbs against new Matchroom recruit Bilal Fawaz, 10-1-1 (3 KOs).

Fawaz defeated Junaid Boston – 10-1-1 (8 KOs) – last time out, and Boston also appears on the Nottingham bill as does heavyweight veteran Dave Allen, 24-8-2 (19 KOs) as he returns from his loss to Arslanbek Makhmudov.

Derby’s Sandy Ryan, 8-3-1 (3 KOs), boxes on the bill against Mexican Karla Ramos Zamora, who is 12-10-2 (4 KOs), for the vacant WBC title at junior welterweight and hot bantamweight prospect Tiah-Mai Ayton, 4-0 (4 KOs,) squares off with Brazil’s Catherine Tacone Ramos, 9-3-1 (2 KOs).

[Taansend]

Leigh Woods' win over Michael Conlan feels like it happen about a decade ago.

It was less than four years, but feels so much longer.

I wonder if Wood will get a rematch with Jazza Dickens if they both win their next bouts.

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[veriton]

Their Cards on the Table promo on Dazn is a bit forced but noticeable how Warrington looks really old. Maybe Wood's perm keeps him young

[revporl]

The first was an absolute cracker, but a lot has happened for both since then. I did think that Warrington had retired but obviously he's had a change of heart. I'm looking forward to this one, but only really based on how much I enjoyed the first fight.

[skanksta]

The 'Help The Aged' ad is hilarious imo.

They lean in to it - this is a pension fight for both.., so let's enjoy it. It'll be a great occasion, great event and ok fight.
They deserve it

[tigermoth87]

Pointless fight.

Josh Has-Being-Ton hasn't had a good win since 2019 when he beat Galahad. Beating a shot to shit Kiko after he fluked a World Title doens't count as good. Wood should be setting his sights higher rather than circling the washed up body of Has-Being-Ton.

Go to take Ryan Garner's 0 and take his trinkets and he could set himself up for another world title shot.

[MasterG]

Anyone heard who Allen may be facing?

[KiwiRider]

The 'Help The Aged' ad is hilarious imo.

They lean in to it - this is a pension fight for both.., so let's enjoy it. It'll be a great occasion, great event and ok fight.
They deserve it

Warrington hasn't deserved his last two fights and doesn't deserve this one. Not only is he one of the dirtiest pros in the game, he is also a solid five years past prime.