Woods vs Johnson the Rematch confirmed

[REAL_DEAL]

Woods and Johnson to clash again for IBF title

Clinton Woods will fight Glen Johnson again for the vacant IBF world title.

Robert Waterman said: “We’re delighted with this decision from the IBF who have moved very quickly to make a return bout of what was a tremendous world-class bout. We are thankful to them as well as Glencoffe Johnson and his team, who have agreed to make this fight happen as soon as both fighters are ready.”

The fight will once again take place in England,

expect the fight to be in January of the following month

[REAL_DEAL]

looks like woods has been handed another gift to win a world title,

[stujones]

Yeah, Woods' handlers should also thank Tarver not pressing much action.

Woods needs to be the agressor this time, he CAN beat Johnson but he must fight like he did against Ashley and Klemesten.

He might fancy himself a bit of a boxer, but he's simply not quite good enough a back foot fighting to win this contest. He was getting hit way to often.

He's got to go for it - ala Brodie during the mid rounds against Chi.

[TerribleTerry]

Enjoyed the first fight - the second one has the making of possibly an even better fight.

At least Johnson gets a rematch - something few in the past have been willing to give him..

[get in the ring]

Great news that the rematch will be granted.

After the fight Tom Brown (Joe Goosen's matchmaker) and Robert Waterman were both saying how much they enjoyed the fight, and that a rematch must happen. They also stated that the fight should be at a bigger arena ... I wonder if London is a possible venue?

I'm sorry to say it, but after watching the first fight, the rematch is there for Johnson's taking. Johnson has, and always will have the style to give Clinton problems. He's rugged, super aggressive, and is relentless. He's also very smart on the inside, and even though he missed a lot in the 1st fight, I found it very hard to give rounds to Woods early on. Even in rounds when Johnson was reckless and missing ... what was Woods doing? Answer - not a lot. Even in the close rounds Johnson should have been given the benefit of the doubt because he was 'amking' the fight.

Johnson nearly threw away the fight down the stretch, as, like he did against Eric Harding, Glen tired in the last few rounds, and Woods came on strong. In the end I had Johnson victorious by 1 point from ringside, but that was being very kind to Woods, as many of the rounds he swept were water tight.

For me, unless Woods can show us something new next time (hopefully with a fit left hand he can) Johnson will roam all over him again and beat him. Whether he gets the decision is another question, but I think Glencoffe Johnson is very, very underrated.

[stujones]

For me, unless Woods can show us something new next time (hopefully with a fit left hand he can) Johnson will roam all over him again and beat him.

Very much agree with you Elliot, that why I'm encouraging team Woods to adopt his old agressive stratedgy. Its what brought him his most famous victories.

I tell you, if he faught like that in his other fights then Crawford Ashley would have boxed his brains off and Ole Klemensten would have Ko'd him.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I wonder if Woods really can beat Johnson, I just don't think he has what it takes to be a champion. Johnson fought with real fire, and if Woods get's aggressive, I think Johnson will hammer him.

Woods looked so tense and tight in there, he just could not seem to relax and let his hands go, he's just not a natural fighter, he thinks way too much about what he is doing, whereas you could see how much more instinctive Johnson's work was.

Though I was rooting for Woods last time out, I warmed to Johnson, and hope he wins the rematch and gets the title

[bennie]

I wonder if Woods really can beat Johnson, I just don't think he has what it takes to be a champion. Johnson fought with real fire, and if Woods get's aggressive, I think Johnson will hammer him.

Woods looked so tense and tight in there, he just could not seem to relax and let his hands go, he's just not a natural fighter, he thinks way too much about what he is doing, whereas you could see how much more instinctive Johnson's work was.

Though I was rooting for Woods last time out, I warmed to Johnson, and hope he wins the rematch and gets the title

James, you did an excellent piece on the forthcoming Hatton-Tackie fight on Maxboxing.com (I believe you were at the press conference to announce the fight). How do you see that one going, mate?

[stujones]

I wonder if Woods really can beat Johnson, I just don't think he has what it takes to be a champion. Johnson fought with real fire, and if Woods get's aggressive, I think Johnson will hammer him.

Woods looked so tense and tight in there, he just could not seem to relax and let his hands go, he's just not a natural fighter, he thinks way too much about what he is doing, whereas you could see how much more instinctive Johnson's work was.

Though I was rooting for Woods last time out, I warmed to Johnson, and hope he wins the rematch and gets the title

James possibly, however Woods turned it up in the last round and Johnson certainly wasn't hammering him then. Perhaps it was well earned fatigue setting in, but I just think Woods has got to do something. What has he got to lose, because he lost last time.

I repeat the two performances I have been most impressed with Woods was when he abandoned his usual boxing tactics and went for broke against Ahsley and Klemensten. He might not like fighting that way, but thats what he's best at. He was letting his hands go well on both of those nights.

What we saw last weekend as the old Woods, the Woods who was too slow to catch Starie - that Woods (weight drained or not) will never win a world title. Only two times has Woods looked World class, these were against Ashley and Klemensten (who were both a many peoples top ten at the time). Hell, he even faught better against Roy Jones than he did on Friday. He needs to fight the best way he can and rip into Johnson's body, I'm afraid Glencoffe was countering Woods jabs with far to much ease.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Benny, I thought you were looking for a personal message, feel free to post the message I sent you on Hatton v Tackie up here.

James

[jamesmcdonnell]

Yes, strangely Woods did far better than expected against Jones, I mean sure he got stopped, but he tried to do what Tarver did, and did manage to take the fight to Jones in 2 rounds.

I think the problem for Woods is that he gets very nervous and tight when he knows he is near the prize. Against Jones, in his heart of hearts, he knew the only chance he had was a lucky punch against Jones.

Against Johnson, he knew he was within less than an hour of being the IBF champion, if he could just pull it off, that made him more nervous than I was the night I popped my cherry.

Maybe second time around he won't feel the same pressure, but also Johnson is a damned good little fighter, compact, accurate, aggressive, and defensively quite astute too, and his body shots were really bending Woods' ribs out of shape, they slowed Woods down a lot.

Woods can win, but he needs to really pump that jab out, the lazy ass jab he threw made it far too easy for Johnson to counter him with the right, and so Woods almost abandoned the jab entirely, allowing, perversely the smaller man with the shorter reach to dominate with his own jab.

I felt really sorry for Johnson, this really is his last chance.

Is this fight really confirmed, because I haven't seen it on fightnews yet.

[bennie]

Benny, I thought you were looking for a personal message, feel free to post the message I sent you on Hatton v Tackie up here.

James

Cheers, James:

"Well, I would be 65-35 in favour of Hatton. Tackie is very slow which plays into Hatton's hands, and he is easy to hit also.

However, Tackie has a light middleweights strength, and has always been incredibly durable in the past. From what I hear of his last performance, there are those who think he might be shot, and he switched trainers a while back, and apparently hasn't been training hard.

It's dubious how much ambition he has left, and whether he is just coming for a payday, or wants to inherit Ricky's position.

As a final note on how dangerous tackie is, he's never been stopped, and Tszyu never allowed himself to get involved in a brawl with Tackie at any point. Tackie is probably still as dangerous as Vince Phillips was 5 years ago, he isn't a huge puncher, but he carries his power late into bouts, and apart from his last bout against Mitchell, has always shown indefatigable stamina, which is something which makes this fight a danger.

Tackie could stop Hatton in the 1st or last round, as he seems to be virtually impossible to discourage, but then again, Hatton's body attack might be able to do what the head hunters couldn't.

My guess is that barring cuts, Hatton wins by a huge margin, but, he may get knocked down in the process at some point.

My gut instinct is Ricky takes an easy decision. but he has to guard those fragile eyes of his."

[Goz]

Funny you should say that because I thought of Woods-Jones when watching Tarver unfurl his strategy on Sunday night.

Woods backed Jones on to the ropes on several occasions but then didn't do anything, I remember screaming at him to unload, just go for it and start whinging leather but he didn't.

Admittedly this was a different RJJ who was most probably giving Clinton more reasons not to start recklessly throwing shots than he gave to Tarver but just thought I'd say it reminded of that fight a little.

[jamesmcdonnell]

The major difference is Woods was getting HURT every time he got Jones on the ropes, Jones was landing really hard and accurate counters, something he simply didn't have the strength or energy to do against Tarver.

The thing is Jones normally LIKES fighting off of the ropes, against Tarver was the first time I saw him getting hit repeatedly on the ropes without landing anything significant back.

[Eric the Viking]

Jones has a way of making his opponents start second-guessing themselves when it comes to just throwing leather. Even against Tarver, I think he landed enough solid shots (mostly to the body) to keep Tarver honest. I just don't buy the simple-minded explanantion many people seem to be offering that Tarver was simply showing Jones too much respect or was somehow content to not get blown out - after he saw that he was able to land effectively on Jones when Jones was on the ropes, why would he not think he had a chance to win? I think it's that Tarver had studied Jones' own playbook very well and knew that against him you can never, ever forget your defense, even if he is obviously less than his usual self.

[Blue]

U guys might be interested in this news from Australia.

Doors open for battling Briggs
By PAUL KENT; Sydney Daily Telegraph :November 14, 2003

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story ... yid=485343

Is Woods' hand injury gona sideline him?