Clinton Woods: SAY IT AINT SO, JOE

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/25231/Say-it-ain-t-so-Joe

CLINTON WOODS has nothing but the highest respect for Joe Calzaghe – and that’s why he wants him to forget fighting Bernard Hopkins and take on “the best light-heavyweight in the world”.

IBF world champion Woods cannot see why Calzaghe would choose to fight Hopkins when a potential all-British showdown could be made, saying Hopkins is well past his best having lost twice at middleweight to Jermain Taylor.

“It doesn’t make sense,” said Woods. “Joe says he wants to move up to light-heavy and fight the best. Not in a million years could anyone say that Bernard Hopkins is the best. He is 42, nearly 43, and was at one time a great fighter. He isn’t any longer.

oe says he wants to move up to light-heavy and fight the best. Not in a million years could anyone say that Bernard Hopkins is the best


“He lost to Jermain Taylor, who has just been knocked out by Kelly Pavlik, and that was at middleweight. Hopkins has ground out points-victories over Ronald Wright and Antonio Tarver, who the last time I looked lost by KO to a 60-year-old Rocky Balboa.


"Joe was brilliant in beating Mikkel Kessler and he has been the best super-middleweight in the world for 10 years.

“To be a champion for that long takes some doing and I take my hat off to Joe, he has been superb for the sport. Which is why I don’t understand his motives for taking on Hopkins.



“I can understand after being a champion so long he wants a decent pay day, and nobody has more right to that than Joe.



“But a fight between me and him in Cardiff, Sheffield or London would be massive box office. He can have it in Cardiff any day of the week if he wants it because travelling down there wouldn’t bother me at all.



“Joe and me are the same age, 35, which means we are both in our prime because we have looked after ourselves. It is a natural fight and I would love to see it happen.”



Woods has rebuilt his career which stalled when he lost to Glencoffe Johnson in 2004, reeling off six victories including a revenge win over Johnson.



“I’ve become a much better all-round fighter,” said Woods. “Since that defeat I have bounced back, which is what all great boxers have to do.”



Woods hopes Calzaghe will negotiate, but if a clash cannot be secured, then he would relish a shot at Roy Jones Jnr.



“Jones beat me back in 2002 when I went to Portland to take him on in his absolute prime. He has won a few and lost a few, but I would get in the ring with Jones again in a heartbeat.”



Woods had a minor clean-up operation on his arm after his victory over Julio Cesar Gonzalez last month in the fourth defence of his IBF crown, and said: “I want to be back in March or April at the latest.



“I have been ticking over in the gym and the arm is fine now. It was just a tidying-up operation with a bit of scar tissue getting in the way, but it is 100 per cent.”



Above all, he hopes to top his pro career which began in 1994 with a showdown against Calzaghe.

“It is what all fighters want,” he said. “The big one that gets people talking. And I know Joe is a very proud boxer which is why I would like to think he would take up the challenge of facing me.”

Middleweight prospect John Duddy may live in New York, but the unbeaten rising star was born in Northern Ireland and fights for the first time in Ulster on December 8 against two-time world title challenger Howard Eastman.

Duddy said: “This will be an amazing night for me. I grew up with tales of Barry McGuigan fighting at the King’s Hall, Belfast. I know victory will send me into the top three or four in the world.”

Nottingham’s super-middleweight champion Carl Froch has been handed a final eliminator for the WBC title against Russia’s Denis Inkin. A date will be set within 30 days.