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A British Super Fight!
Not since the days when Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Michael Watson and Steve Collins were squaring off against one another, has a fight between two men from these shores captured the imagination to the extent that the prospective clash between Clinton Woods and Joe Calzaghe has.
Both believe they are the best of the British and although they box in different weight classes at the moment, Joe has said on more than one occasion he is ready and willing to move up the required seven pounds to tackle Clinton. The result will be a fight between the best light heavyweight on the planet and the best super middleweight in the world.
With each man’s recent superb performances improving their reputations no end, the idea of them facing each other is now a mouth watering prospect.
Back when Benn and Eubank et al. were settling their differences, the whole British public was seemingly tuning in to watch, such had their intense rivalries gotten everyone talking. And while Joe and Clinton are not exactly at each others throats in the same way Nigel and Chris were, there does seem to be some dislike between the two.
Calzaghe, for instance, angered Clinton by openly rooting for his opponent, Glen Johnson, in the run up to Woods v Johnson III. And Joe seems determined to want to prove he is the number one British boxer fighting today.
As such, a fight between the two will be nothing but a massively watched rumble. The third encounter between the Sheffield man and Johnson brought in almost three and a half million
television viewers. A fight between the premiere light heavyweight vs. the unbeaten super middleweight star will no doubt be seen by even more viewers.
For British boxing fans, the fight simply has to happen.
With no more reason than his excellent win over previously unbeaten, would-be superstar in the making, Jeff Lacy, Joe will no doubt be the favourite when the fight is first announced.
Clinton will not mind this, however. He is used to being the underdog. Still, one does have to keep in mind the fact that Calzaghe will be fighting at a new weight for the very first time. Will his speed, particularly of hand, be compromised when carrying the new poundage? This is just one of the questions that will keep the outcome in doubt right until the final bell.
Joe, undoubtedly, has the better skills. His fast hands are razor sharp and stunningly accurate. While his chin has not once been dented – the only knockdown he suffered in his
career, against Byron Mitchell back in 2003, was one he quickly rose from, stopping the American in the same second round. And Joe’s punching power is worthy of respect, at the very least.
But Clinton is a very strong and determined fighter, especially after becoming world champion. He can never be even remotely discounted, such is his inner steel and grit. A stronger fighter, both physically and mentally, now that an iron deficiency has been remedied, Woods is a boxer who will seemingly go through sheer hell to keep what he has worked so hard to achieve. This will make him a tough, and dangerous foe for anyone, including Wales’ finest.
The naturally bigger and taller man in Woods will approach the fight with his usual down to earth attitude, being that he is never a man to shoot his mouth off. Whereas Joe, although not exactly in the same league as, say, Floyd Mayweather, when it comes to outright boasting, will certainly have more to say during the build-up to the clash.
Immediately after Clinton’s brave and admirable win over Johnson, for example, Calzaghe boldly stated how he had no doubt he would destroy either Clinton or Glen. He is not a
fighter who is afraid of speaking with a confident/ arrogant attitude, that’s for sure.
While Clinton favours the quietly confident method. It is this contrast in the two men’s personalities, amongst many other things, that will have the fans glued when they meet some time next year.
And while I am aware that I am writing as though the fight is a dead-cert to take place, I also know that nothing is to be taken for granted in the sport of boxing. Anything could happen.
For example, Joe could lose his very next fight, in October. Anything’s possible. But the reason I am referring to a fight, that is still nothing more than a possibility at present, in a
foregone manner, is a simple one. This is a fight that we all really want to happen. It would be a great night for British boxing, a real extravaganza.
Such potential cannot go unrealised, surely?
Though I will wait until the fight is officially announced before picking a winner – there will be so many factors to take into account in the coming months first – I will go so far as to say I do not think the fight will be anyway near as easy as Joe Calzaghe seems to think it will be.
Clinton Woods is one tough and hard headed fighter, something that people do tend to
forget at times. In the final analysis, I think a war will be fought between the two men. A war that will have fans shouting throughout.
