By James Slater: Back in August of last year, Sheffield hard man and former IBF light-heavyweight champion Clinton Woods lost an entertaining, reasonably close decision to a rampaging Tavoris Cloud in Florida. Declaring beforehand he would retire if he lost the fight, the then 37-year-old Woods kept his word and hung up the gloves.
It seemed Clinton, who quit with a fine 42-5-1(24) record, was content with what he’d done in boxing. However, this past weekend, at a small hall show in Jersey, Woods ran into old foe Roy Jones Junior – the all time great who stopped him in Sept. of 2002 (the only man to have ever halted Woods) – and talk turned towards a possible rematch.
Woods says he will return to the ring for this fight, as well as for another one with his three-fight rival, Glen Johnson, but for no other fight. Reportedly, Jones Junior, now way past his best at age 41, is at least somewhat interested in a second fight with the man he stopped in six-rounds in what was his final fight at 175-pounds before moving up to face WBA heavyweight boss John Ruiz.
We all know Jones, 54-7(40) is unable to retire, and he was set to face Danny Santiago earlier this month. That fight was postponed due to a hand injury Jones picked up – will the former “Superman” now have his next fight against Britain’s Woods?
“There are only two fighters I’d come back for; one is Roy Jones, the other Glen Johnson,” Woods told The Sheffield Star. “Jones beat me when he was in his prime and I had not peaked, so that’s why I lost there. He may have boxed this year, but he looked like an old man to me. I know I’d beat him this time.
“Weight is not a problem for me, and as for fitness, I’d be ready in two or three months, no problem. I know what I’d want in money, and if the event was to get backing from TV, in Britain or America, then it could be made, possibly quite quickly. Jones would want a lot more than me, but at the moment he is doing £10,000 a day promotions like the job in Jersey. So he might be interested in coming over here. As for a fight with Johnson, a fight would decide who won the series between us.”
A fourth fight with “The Road Warrior” is highly unlikely, seeing as how Johnson is now part of the “Super Six” tourney – so it seems as though Woods will forever be 1-1-1 with the Jamaican. However, promoter Dennis Hobson says Jones Junior IS interested, at least somewhat, in a return with Woods.
“He [Jones] told me that he would love to fight David Haye, but that if that was not possible, then he’d like another fight with Woods. Clinton is a friend of mine, and I wouldn’t put him in with some young talent. This would be against an old man and he’d stand a very good chance.
“TV might be interested, and we’d certainly get a good attendance in Sheffield.”
And let’s face it, we’d probably watch the fight if it happened, wouldn’t we? Woods always had craved the chance for revenge over the only man to have ever stopped him (Clinton’s corner pulled him out at the end of the 6th-round in 2002), but it seemed he’d forever lost his chance when he retired last summer.
Jones Junior Vs. Woods II in Sheffield in 2011? Maybe. As Hobson says, it would be two old guys matched together. Heaven forbid Jones Junior actually got that fight with Haye he talked about!