Roy Jones Jr vs Clinton Woods

The all-conquering Roy Jones Jr retained his light-heavyweight championships by stopping Britain’s Clinton Woods after one minute and 29 seconds of the sixth round at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon, on September 7, 2002. Woods was still standing when his corner waved a white towel, and referee Jay Nady brought the scheduled 12-round contest to an end. There had been no knockdowns, but the punishment had become one-sided, and Woods was no longer offering an effective reply.

Jones weighed 175 pounds and entered with a record of 46 victories and one defeat, the latter having come by disqualification against Montell Griffin. Woods weighed 174 pounds and brought a record of 32 wins against one loss. He was the WBC’s leading contender and had earned his position after holding the British, Commonwealth and European championships. The crowd was reported as 16,229, making the promotion a substantial event for Portland, which had not staged a world championship contest for four decades. Jones’s WBA, WBC and IBF titles were at stake, together with several lesser belts and his recognition by The Ring.

The champion made a lengthy entrance, appearing among the spectators on a rising platform and performing a song before descending to the ring. Once the contest began, Woods attempted to make the occasion more practical. He advanced behind a high guard and tried to bring Jones into close exchanges, where his greater height and steady work rate might have proved useful. During the first two rounds he drove several hooks into the champion’s body and showed no immediate sign of being overawed. Jones remained difficult to reach cleanly, however, shifting his weight backwards, stepping away at angles and answering Woods’s single punches with faster combinations.

The first round was competitive enough for all three judges to score it 10-9, but Jones began to establish a wide superiority in the second. His hands travelled with considerably greater speed, and he was able to lead with hooks or right hands from positions in which an orthodox boxer would ordinarily have used the jab. Woods continued to press, but his feet could not carry him into range quickly enough. When he did close the distance, Jones struck two or three times before moving aside. Judge Gus Mercurio scored the second round 10-8 despite the absence of a knockdown, reflecting the champion’s control and accuracy.

Jones increased his attack in the third and fourth rounds. He struck Woods around the guard, switched repeatedly between head and body and used short bursts rather than remaining in the pocket. Woods’s effort did not diminish, but his punches became increasingly predictable. Jones could see the challenger setting his feet and was often gone before the blow arrived. Mercurio awarded both rounds to Jones by 10-8 margins, while Omar Mintun Sr gave the third 10-8 and Jack Woodburn scored the fourth by the same margin. Woods was being credited for his persistence, but little of his work was landing cleanly.

By the fifth round, the physical effects were becoming apparent. Woods’s face was marked, and his forward movement was producing less offence. Jones continued to strike from unusual angles, often dropping his hands and inviting the challenger to lead before countering him. He did not pursue a single knockout blow. Instead, he accumulated damage with quick right hands, left hooks and combinations which Woods could neither anticipate nor answer. After five completed rounds, the official scores were 50-42 for Mercurio, 50-43 for Woodburn and 50-44 for Mintun. HBO’s unofficial scorer, Harold Lederman, had Jones ahead 50-45.

The sixth was the most severe round of the contest. Jones trapped Woods near the ropes and connected repeatedly while the challenger covered up. A right hand struck Woods on the nose and brought blood. Jones then continued with an unanswered series as Woods remained upright but ceased punching back. The final statistics showed that Jones landed 21 of his last 26 punches while Woods landed none during that sequence. Trainer Ian Alcock and manager Dennis Hobson decided that allowing their boxer to absorb further punishment served no useful purpose. The white towel was waved from the corner, and Nady stopped the fight at 1:29. The decision was timely and drew no serious objection from Woods.

The judges’ unusual use of several 10-8 rounds without knockdowns illustrated the extent of Jones’s superiority. He connected with 140 of 300 punches, a rate of 47 per cent, while Woods landed only 39 of 166, or 23 per cent. Of Jones’s successful blows, 122 were recorded as power punches. The fight was clean, with no fouls or warnings of consequence, and the outcome was determined entirely by the champion’s advantages in speed, reflexes, accuracy and distance.

Jones improved his record to 47-1 and immediately looked towards a move to heavyweight, where he would challenge John Ruiz for the WBA championship the following March. Woods returned to Britain disappointed but not permanently diminished by the defeat. He later won the IBF light-heavyweight championship and made several successful defences, demonstrating that he had been a qualified contender rather than an undeserving challenger. At Portland, however, he met Jones near the height of his powers. Woods supplied courage and steady pressure, but Jones answered every advance with greater speed and precision until the corner was left with no reasonable course except surrender.

I got to know Clinton Woods after he beat my stablemate Crawford Ashley, and I’ve always regarded him as a decent man and a very, very good light-heavyweight. He later proved that by winning the IBF title, but he never had a chance against this version of Roy Jones Jr.

Clinton tried to apply sensible pressure, worked the body early and refused to be intimidated. The problem was that Jones operated at a speed ordinary world-class fighters could not process. He could lead with either hand, punch from the wrong positions and disappear before the counter came back.

By the sixth, Clinton was taking unanswered combinations and his corner was absolutely right to throw in the towel. Jones had landed 140 punches to Clinton’s 39, including 21 of the last 26 without reply. That was not Clinton being poor; it was an excellent fighter meeting a genuinely exceptional one. At his peak, Jones made proper world champions look several levels below him.