Who is next for Clinton Woods? by Ian McNeilly Jan 21st 2008

With Joe Calzaghe set to officially announce that he'll be taking on Bernard Hopkins at light-heavyweight, Sheffield's IBF champion Clinton Woods appears once more to have been sidelined on the really big stage. Woods' promoter Dennis Hobson had been looking forward to taking on the Welshman who dominates the super-middle class but the brutal truth is that a fight against Hopkins will make Joe a lot more money - and that is what he is concerned with.  And why not, especially as, ridiculously in my view, Hopkins is currently the Ring's magazine's number one at 175. I bumped into Hobson and Woods' trainer Richard Poxon last night but neither would be drawn on the identity of their man's next challenger, telling me an announcement would be made later this week. Let's have a look at the current IBF ratings.  The champs of the other three recognised boards are barred from the ratings so that precludes the WBA's Danny Green, WBC's Chad Dawson and WBO's Zsolt Erdei. 1. Glen Johnson 2. Not Rated (Never heard of him.  Seriously, why the IBF does this so often is beyond me) 3. Bernard Hopkins 4. Antonio Tarver 5. Thomas Ullrich 6. Julio Gonzalez 7. Adrian Diaconu 8. Paul Briggs 9. Hugo Garay 10. Tavoris Cloud (don't ask me) 11. Roy Jones Jr 12. Stipe Drews 13. Rachid Kanfouah 14. Chris Henry 15. William Joppy (yikes!) Right...deep breath.  Johnson fights Chad Dawson soon and surely even the most die-hard Woods' fans don't want to see a fourth fight between the two anyway. Hopkins is fighting Calzaghe and Tarver will want home advantage and probably more money than he's worth. Ullrich is defending his EBU title in Germany next month. Gonzalez has just been taken care of (again). Diaconu is a possibility but is unbeaten, a bit of a mystery man and wouldn't generate more money than a less dangerous option.  He has a bout tentatively scheduled for Romania in two months' time. Paul Briggs - I'm going to stop here because of the top rated men who might be canvassing for the opportunity to take on Woods, I think he'll be the one who is accommodated.  The Aussie is a tough guy like Woods, having only been stopped once as a novice.  His other two losses were on points to Tomasz Adamek.  He's prepared to travel (having boxed in Germany and the US) and even if he didn't want to, Woods would go to Australia if the money was right.  Further, if Woods beat Briggs and drew attention to himself with the Australian public, it would make a unification match up with Aussie Danny Green a natural. Right, that's that sorted.  Put the kettle on, will you? (OK, if it isn't him it'll be the Argie Garay.  Trust me.)

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