22.01.08 – By Andrew Wake: According to a report in today’s South Yorkshire Star, Sheffield’s International Boxing Federation light-heavyweight champion Clinton Woods has agreed to defend his crown against Rocky Balboa star Antonio “The Magic Man” Tarver. The date being mooted is April 12th at the St. Pete Forum in Tampa, Florida. Showtime are likely to be televising..
An American showcase against such a well known adversary will come as a thankful consolation to the British puncher. He had been hoping to line up a big all British clash with long time rival and undisputed world super-middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe but it now appears a dead cert that the Welshman’s next fight will come against Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas in April.
The last time 35 year old Clinton, 41-3-1 with 24 KOs, ventured to the States was in September 2002 when he was thoroughly outclassed in six rounds by the then prime Roy Jones Jnr.
Woods has since put that crushing defeat behind him and feels that he has matured as a fighter. He captured his title by stopping the highly touted Rico Hoye in five rounds in early 2005 and has stated several times his belief that he can beat Tarver with relevant ease.
The fight will be the first time Tarver, 39 years old and a former light-heavyweight number one, is involved in a title affair sanctioned by one of the main four sanctioning bodies (IBO is not generally regarded as a legitimate world title) since he famously gave up his WBC championship in order face Glencoffe Johnson in 2004.
When quizzed about the fight Woods’ promoter Dennis Hobson, who usually talks openly about possible bouts, refused to comment. However, a few months ago Hobson did let it be known that he’d been in discussions with US television network Showtime about possibly putting Clinton on one of their cards. At present, other than Chad Dawson, the only fighter at light-heavyweight to have a deal with the TV company is Tarver, so read into that what you will.