Can Woods Shake Off the World Title Blues?

Clinton Woods proved himself to be the best light heavyweight in Britain, the former British Commonwealth countries and on the European continent by winning all of those titles between the years of 1999 and 2000. When the Sheffield battler tried to take his show on the big stage however, he wasn’t nearly as successful. Against Roy Jones Jr. and then twice against Glen Johnson, Woods gave it his all but failed to walk away with a world title in each case. Tonight, the Yorkshire man gets another chance at glory, this time in a converted steel factory in his hometown where he’ll meet undefeated American Rico Hoye. Will this be any different than his other chances? Will Woods finally put it together and develop an effective offensive plan to go along with his rather remarkable ability to take a punch? Or will he again find himself on the receiving end of a better fighter’s strategy, unable to unload his considerable power in the amounts necessary to turn back a willful tourist? It’s impossible to predict, but this time, Woods isn’t fighting the best boxer in the game, nor perhaps the biggest hearted fighter in the business as was the case in his two previous world title attempts. This time, he’s fighting Rico Hoye and that’s not the same thing as fighting Roy Jones Jr. or even Glen Johnson.

Before hitting the inevitable wall of diminishing reflexes all in one messy fight against Antonio Tarver, Roy Jones was a thing of beauty to watch in the ring. As a light heavyweight, Jones had all the hand-speed, footwork and blink of an eye defensive guile of any top of the tree welterweight. Almost un-hittable, there’s a reason why Jones picked up title belts like few in the history of the sport, and in no fight was that more evident than the night in 2002 when Clinton Woods matched fists with the most accomplished fighter of his generation.

If Jones had the power of a real light heavyweight, it’s doubtful that the Englishman would have seen more than two rounds. The challenger walked forward for six long rounds and aside from a few memorable occasions where he caught lightning in a bottle and roughed up Jones along the ropes, Woods ate leather. The champion absolutely raked his courageous foe with one cracking combination after another. Jones was particularly skilled at setting traps for his opponents, lowering his guard to draw a punch he wanted them to throw and delivering punishing counters when they were foolish enough to actually do so. He did this uncountable times against Woods.

Occasionally, Woods would show why he was so successful at the British and European level, landing crunching blows to Jones’ body as he bravely continued his attempt to walk the champion down. After getting caught with one such good shot, Jones decided he had enough and turned up the volume, forcing Clinton’s corner to throw in the towel in order to save their man from permanent damage.

Woods went back to beating up mid-level South Americans before a he got another chance to make a lasting mark on the weight division. It came in 2003 in the form of a shot at the vacant IBF belt against the victim of more bad decisions than any other fighter in recent memory, Glencoffe (now known as Glen) Johnson. Woods stood a much better chance to win a world title, as Johnson was no Roy Jones. The Jamaican fighter had turned professional as a middleweight and made the many close decision losses he endured against the likes of Julio Gonzales, Omar Sheika and Sven Ottke possible by going dormant for long periods of time in fights.

Their first fight was a close affair with the aggressive Johnson throwing caution to the wind while heaving nothing but bombs at the durable Woods, who weathered the storm and again proved his ability to keep his feet. When Johnson tired of hitting Woods later in the fight, the Yorkshire man began his attacks and had a large measure of success even having the American based fighter in some trouble.The judges ruled the contest a draw however and Johnson felt screwed out of a fight yet again, a view shared by many in the media who witnessed the slugfest.

The IBF title remained vacant, but a few months later Johnson returned to Sheffield and the two fighters tried again. This time Johnson came better prepared in the stamina department and spent twelve rounds hitting Woods with everything but the kitchen sink. He couldn’t stop the hometown fighter, but did manage to win a clear-cut decision at any rate and again Woods had failed in his bid to win a world title.

Rico Hoye comes into this fight with Woods tonight on the heels of a victory over former WBC champion Montell Griffin, a fight that took place in Hoye’s home state of Michigan. If the draw declared in the first Woods – Johnson bout was decried as unjust, the Hoye victory awarded against the cagey Griffin was decried by many in the press as a downright farce. Regardless, that match-up should prove to have little if anything to do with tonight’s pairing, as Griffin is a short, crafty boxer who rivals anyone in the business for ring-craft and resembles not in the least that tall, sturdy upright slugger in Woods.

But, this is Clinton Wood’s best chance by far to finally win a recognized world title belt as Hoye is far less experienced than previous opponents Jones and Johnson. Aside from Griffin, Hoye has defeated the likes of Richard Hall, Donnell Wiggins and Prince Badi Ajamu, fighters not in Woods’ class. None of that means anything however if Woods just covers up and allows the even taller Hoye to tee off all night. The pride of Sheffield must put together a cohesive strategy that will allow him to put the relatively inexperienced Hoye in an unfamiliar place and turn the ring into a trench where the man with the biggest heart wins the fight. Can Clinton pull it off? Log onto SaddoBoxing tonight to find out.

Richard Eberline can be reached at richardeberline@fastmail.fm