CRUNCH TIME HAS ARRIVED

It won’t be happening in Britain, as originally mooted, but Sheffield’s Clinton Woods definitely gets his chance against Roy Jones Jr, still regarded by many as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter, in Portland, Oregon, on 7 September.

After a wait of nearly two years, Woods finally challenges for Jones’s World Boxing Council light-heavy title in a bout in which few outside his camp give him a realistic chance of winning. Jones’s World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation championships will not be at stake but it’s hardly surprising the hard-luck silver-medallist from the 1988 Seoul Olympics is such a big favourite.

Jones has been a superstar of the ring for nearly a decade whereas Woods, although a deserving mandatory challenger, will be seen in the United States as another virtual unknown without the tools to detain Jones for long.

But the Woods camp are quietly confident that Jones will not have things all his own way. They say they could be catching Jones at the right time, that the 33-year-old from Pensacola, Florida, might have underestimated Woods.

Miracles do happen. In September 1986, Londoner Lloyd Honeyghan went to Atlantic City as a huge underdog against Don Curry, then supposedly invincible, and shocked the world by retiring the “Lone Star Cobra” from Texas in six rounds.

It is almost fanciful to believe Woods, 29, can do something similar. But Woods’s manager Dennis Hobson says his fighter will enjoy big support in Portland’s 18,000-seater Rose Garden Arena, with as many rooting for the Yorkshireman as Jones.

Woods was due to fly to his training base in Portland on 16 August, just over three weeks before the fight. Hobson said they were expecting a big reception, with the U.S. press clamouring to talk to him.

But the switch from Britain to the States could work in Woods’s favour. Woods’s preparation and mindset could have been disrupted by the pressure and expectation of fighting at home, particularly in Sheffield. But the change should enable Woods to shut himself away and get ready for Jones without unwarranted intrusion.

The bout will be screened live by Home Box Office, the U.S. subscription TV giant that has Jones under contract, with coverage in Britain still unclear at time of writing.

The purse bids were originally won by Hobson, with the fight due to go ahead in Britain on 13 July. But complications involving Woods’s former promoter Panos Eliades led to the promotional rights being signed over to the Jones faction, with a new date and venue arranged.

Hobson says part of the deal was that Woods kept his original purse share, which amounts to the biggest payday of his career by far. But Jones, he believes, never wanted to come to Britain anyway. It is true Jones has shown a similar disinclination to meet Dariusz Michalczewski, the World Boxing Organisation champ in the 12st 7lbs (175lbs) division, in Germany. But Hobson says it makes no difference to Woods.

“There’s one of two [observers] who give Clinton a chance,” Hobson revealed. “I don’t know whether it’s from a lot of knowledge or if it’s just wishful thinking. I don’t believe they’ve seen a lot of him [Woods] but they’ve heard little things about him, his character, [the fact] he’s got a good chin [and] he’s a strong kid. But I know he’s a lot better than what they’ve seen.

“Even though he’s been messed about by Michael Nunn [Woods’s opponent in a final eliminator that was originally due to take place in London in July 2000] and we’ve had this [the Jones fight] put off once or twice, Clinton’s improved. It’s benefited him because he’s got stronger and more mature.”

But let’s be honest. Jones is in a different stratosphere to any opponent Woods has faced in his previous 33 fights (one defeat, 18 KOs). This is a problem all Jones rivals face and has usually led to them being outclassed. Jones possesses a speed and artistry that sets him apart from most fighters, although his power has been less in evidence since his move up to light-heavy, with opponents lasting longer but still getting severely worked over.

But Jones has still been good enough to compile a record of 46 wins in 47 fights, with 37 KOs. The Woods bout will be his 14th light-heavy title fight, with his only blemish a ninth-round disqualification loss to Montell Griffin, which Jones avenged with a chilling first-round stoppage in his next bout.

Jones has also won world titles at middle and super middle in a dazzling 13-year career that has seen him go largely unchallenged. In the last year or so, there has been talk of a return to 12 stone, of fights against Felix “Tito” Trinidad, another Briton, Joe Calzaghe, the WBO champ in that weight class, and latterly middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins, a man Jones outpointed nine years ago and is still a bitter rival.

But it’s Woods, the former British, Commonwealth and European light-heavy champ, who gets the job in one of those once-in-a-lifetime fights that come along every so often. Hobson insists: “He [Woods] has done it the hard way, he’s there on merit and I truly believe he’s got a great chance.”

Hobson says Woods will not let Jones coast, fight at his own pace, that his man will try to cut the ring down, bring pressure to bear and at least make the champion fight. Hobson says: “He [Woods] is so happy that he’s gonna be in the other corner. He’s waited for this for two years. I know it’s a cliché but he looks sharper and stronger and his movement’s better.

“He [Woods] is working to a plan because Clinton isn’t just a one-dimensional fighter. When he boxed [French-Ugandan] Yawe Davis [in a final eliminator last September], he boxed from a distance. Against certain kids, he’ll fight ‘em a bit more.”

Jones, it seems, falls into the second category. Woods, Hobson says, is going to give it a real go, even if it means playing into Jones’s hands.

 
“We’ve got to try something,” he says.

As for Woods freezing, Hobson says that won’t happen, referring to Jones’s last challenger, Australian Glenn Kelly, who was outclassed and hammered in seven rounds, eventually getting knocked out by a right-hander he didn’t see as Jones flashily brought the punch from behind his back.

Woods, I think, will give it his best shot but it is almost inconceivable that he can win. Jones would have too much in every department for most of the very best fighters and, frankly, Woods is not among them.

The only scenario I can see is Woods, inactive since stopping Clint Johnson in the third in London in March, starting full of optimism but quickly discovering he is out of his depth. Woods may be able to frustrate Jones for a while but he will only be delaying the inevitable.

As Woods runs out of steam and ideas, only bravery will keep him in the fight as Jones picks him off with razor-sharp combinations, forcing the referee to intervene about halfway through the scheduled 12-rounder.