Woods vs. Gonzalez

IBF light heavyweight champion Clinton Woods (40-3-1, 24 KOs) makes his ring return tomorrow night against Julio Gonzalez at the Hallam FM Arena, in Sheffield, Yorkshire. Woods, 35, hasn’t see action in a year since winning a split decision over challenger Glen Johnson in September 2006. The England born Woods has had an operation to repair an injury to his left arm, which he now claims is as good as new, enabling him to punch without pain and allowing him to punch with authority like in his early years.

Gonzalez, 31, ranked # 2 in the IBF, faced Woods in 2005, and lost a clear cut unanimous decision in Sheffield. In that bout, Woods controlled the action with his powerful combinations as he out-worked Gonzalez over the course of the bout. Since then, Gonzalez has decisioned Jason DeLisle and stopped both Rodney Moore and Vitali Kopitko. Though Gonzalez is still ranked highly in the IBF, his skills have dropped off considerably since 2001 when he lost to then light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. While Gonzalez is still ranked highly, it’s more of an indication of how poor the light heavyweight division is than a sign of Gonzalez’s talent.