Woods hopes for miracle

Woods (right) has lost just once in 32 bouts

By Ben Dirs BBC Sport Online

Britain's Clinton Woods takes on American ring legend Roy Jones in Portland, Oregon on Saturday. BBC Radio Five Live will be covering the fight from 0400 BST on Sunday.

When Clinton Woods was announced as a possible opponent for the great Roy Jones, the scoffs from America's boxing press were to be expected.

Americans are accustomed to English patsies crossing the pond for a once-in-a-lifetime payday and a good whupping.

Randolph Turpin and Lloyd Honeyghan have shown that the unexpected can happen, but Frank Bruno's plight at the hands of Mike Tyson has been the norm.

Make no mistake, the 30-year-old Woods is a competent fighter with an impressive record (31-1) and all the tools.

But on the evidence so far, he will need a wrecking ball to dismantle Jones when they meet in Portland, Oregon, for the WBC light-heavyweight crown.

Jones is one of the all-time greats

Jones is widely regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world right now and one of the best of all time.

Woods is largely unknown in the UK, a one-time street-fighter who has had to play second fiddle to Prince Naseem Hamed, even in his native Sheffield.

Woods is also a rarity in modern boxing, a fighter who has shunned boxing's alphabet soup of titles to become British, European and Commonwealth champion before earning a crack at the big time.

Plenty of heart

After postponements, cancellations and much frustration, the rugged Yorkshireman finally won a shot at Jones with a gruelling points decision over Yawe Davis.

He looked impressive against the awkward Ugandan-Italian, a durable southpaw with a vicious uppercut and a granite chin.

Indeed, since his debut against Dave Proctor in 1994 Woods has repeatedly demonstrated a compact technique, a useful left hook and plenty of heart.

His only defeat came when current British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight champion David Starie out-pointed him in 1998.

Bruno's experience has been fairly typical

And since that defeat Woods has beaten useful boxers in Crawford Ashley, Henry Maske and Frank Tate.

But for the most part he has been content to fight journeyman Europeans such as Paul Bonson, a boxer with a lamentable 11-38-6 record at the time.

And despite the confident sounds coming from the Woods camp, the fact he has never ventured across the Atlantic before suggests he is fully aware of his limitations.

Unfortunately for Woods, the 33-year-old Jones has no limitations.

Hopkins target

The man from Pensacola, Florida, possesses blinding hand speed, dazzling footwork and has cast his shadow from middleweight through to light-heavy.

This is a man who has been booed by crowds for winning too easily, a man who can choose when to finish a fight.

There have been repeated calls for Jones to chance his arm at heavyweight, but undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins is the immediate target.

There is no doubt that Woods deserves a tilt at the title and he will give it his best shot.

But some of the finest fighters of his generation have given Jones their best shot and come up short.

Fishy future?

Scratch the surface and you will see that miracles in boxing are rarely actually that.

When Turpin faced Ray Robinson in 1951, one of the fight game's best ever was exhausted and under-prepared.

And Honeyghan defeated an over-hyped Don Curry, a fighter who subsequently would be exposed by others with a big enough punch.

Following Woods' defeat of Yawe Davis, he quipped that fishing might be more his game.

After his encounter with Jones, do not be surprised to see Woods on a riverbank near you.