rob milne boxing print portfolio

BoxingPast, Present and Futureby Rob Milne

Clinton Woods‘I used to get depressed so I packed that part in’

INSIDE

Sam O’Maison‘I want to win everything’

EXCLUSIVEKid Galahad is back and targets the world

FIGHT NIGHT PREVIEW:Brook takes on Bizier

PlusHow Sheffield became THE boxing town

Shef

field

FOCUSED:Kid Galahad takes aim in a spar match at the Ingle Gym with Lee Selby

2 SHEFFIELD BOXING MARCH 23, 2016

THE KID IS BACK

Rob Milne visited undefeated super bantamweight Kid Galahad to talk about the end of his suspension, world

title aspirations and the brilliance of Ingle’s Gym

he road to boxing superstardom is one of the most difficult in sport but for Abdul Barry Awad, or as he is better known Kid Galahad, his path has been made tougher

than most.The undefeated super bantamweight’s promising

career was halted in May 2015, when he was handed a two year ban for failing a drugs test, after claiming his brother spiked him – but his ban was reduced last week and he is now eligible to fight as soon as next month.

Qatari-born Galahad is still only 26, and the former European and Commonwealth champion is prepared to

be the next world champion to come out of Sheffield’s Ingle Gym, his ban just an obstacle to

overcome.“It didn’t stop my career. Most

people would have just packed up, not trained and started

going out every weekend. I thought, if I’m not allowed

to fight for 18 months, I’m going to make

sure I improve on things. I’m going

to make this time

count.“I’ve been here training every day, twice a day, keeping

on top of my training, keeping on top mentally and physically. I’ve improved in every kind of way, when I get back into the ring people are going to see that.”

With the ban behind him, the boxer likened to fellow Ingle-protégé and boxing legend Prince Naseem Hamed, Galahad is focused on getting back in the ring.

He has been forced to watch his domestic rivals Scott Quigg and Carl Frampton battle it out for the super-bantamweight crown in front of a sell-out crowd. You can’t blame Galahad for wanting to set the record straight and cement himself as the top fighter in the division.

“I believe I’ll end up fighting Frampton. Quigg will try to avoid me as much as he can. He’s [Quigg] a person who can’t take pressure, I’d be a lot better in those situations because he can’t handle pressure.

“They both got exposed badly, I used to tell people that if I boxed them both in the same night I’d beat them both and I think people are starting to believe that.”

On rumours that Galahad knocked Quigg out in sparring, Galahad said he went eight rounds with him, “battering him from pillar to post,” if he can do that to a former world-champion then Frampton could have a

“ I’ve improved in every kind of way. When I get back into the

ring people are going to see that.”

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MARCH 23 2016 SHEFFIELD BOXING 3

worthy challenger.Galahad radiates confidence and

believes it could only take two or three more fights before he is back in with a world title shot. From a young age he has been hailed as one of the hottest prospects in British boxing, especially after beating coveted amateur star Jazza Dickens to win his British title at just 22-years-old.

“I thrived off the reputation. I’m a confident person, I always have been. No matter what I did I had to make sure I won and I always believed whatever I did, I’d always win. The pressure makes me want to step my game up even more. I was always a fighter. I’ve been fighting since I was a baby.”

After a chance meeting with Prince Naseem, Galahad was set on the path to

professional boxing, he recalls: “I said to Naz, I want to be a champion like you, what should I do? He told me there was a gym called St. Thomas’ boys club in Wincobank, go and look for a guy called Brendan Ingle – he’ll turn you into a champion.”

He was just a young kid from Upperthorpe in Sheffield when he first stepped into the ring, Galahad recalls when he first met legendary trainer Brendan Ingle, “At the time I didn’t go to school, I had been kicked out at that time but he didn’t know, nobody knew, I used to come down every day at 6am but he’d never open up until 6:45.

“I’d always be in the cold for 45 minutes but he wanted to see if I’d wait around or not. If I didn’t then he knew I didn’t have the patience for it.

“So, he’d come in and go ‘now do your footwork, I’ll be back.’ So he’d come back at 10am and I’d have been here since 7am, he’d pop his head in and go ‘now go round the circle’ and he’d disappear again.”

After a month of focusing on different footwork for hours day after day, young Barry Awad was finally given a chance in the ring and soon he was fighting in the amateurs, “I had my first fight within six months. I just got in there and stopped the kid in the first round. You think you’re ready but when you get in there it is sink or swim time. Either you’re a fighter or not.

“When I adapted to the professionals I adapted so quick. Brendan never taught me as an amateur, he always taught us to be professional. The things we did, the

The defining moment in Galahads young career was his British title victory over James ‘Jazza’ Dickens.

“I won the British title at 22, I boxed a kid called Jazz Dickens. I won an amateur title, but only the one and then Jazz had won everything as an amateur.

“He boxed for GB, he won everything and it was like a 50/50 fight, both the same age for the British title.

“Me and him boxed, and it was a close fight all the way till I knocked him out. “But it was a 50/50 fight, people actually thought I

was going to get beat because he won more than me but difference was, he was always taught as an amateur.

“When it came to the 12 rounds it was nothing to me. I ended up stopping him in the ninth. But because he’d never done 12 he never knew what it was like, so he kind of gassed himself out a bit.”

Career fight: Galahad vs Dickens (British title)

HIT BACK:Galahad ready to make his mark on the division


thought process, the thinking. So, by the time I turned pro I was doing 12 rounds like it was nothing.

“Brendan taught me that defence gets before everything - if you can’t get hit then you’ll always be able to hit someone. Anyone can throw a punch but it’s hard not to get hit, very hard. A lot of these fighters aren’t taught that, there’s longevity in the game if you don’t get hit.”

Since turning pro in 2006, his record now stands at 18 fights, 18 wins with 9 wins by knockout in his own elusive style but Galahad knows he has the big Ingle gym fighter reputation to live up to.

When Brendan retired, his sons took control of Galahad’s training alongside stablemate Kell Brook.

Throughout his development he has

watched the likes of Johnny Nelson and Junior Witter come through the gym, world champions who Galahad one day wishes to emulate. Not forgetting Brook, who is up there with the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world right now.

“Everybody has their day, this moment Kell’s having his day. He’s been training for 20 years, he deserves everything he gets. Junior Witter was champion of the gym when I came – he was knocking everyone out.

“I think my style is a bit of everybody’s, it’s not just Naseem Hamed. It’s Naseem Hamed, its Junior Witter; it’s a bit Johnny Nelson… It’s not really like any of their styles; it’s a mixture of all of them.”

This is a fighter who believes every word he says and would happily take

a world title fight against any super-bantamweight on the planet right now, and be confident he is going to beat them.

“As I said I don’t like losing at anything, literally anything, I don’t like losing. That’s just the mentality I’ve got.

“My dream is to go over to a country like America and be the underdog and win a world title.

“That’s my dream, to be an underdog in a fight and people actually think you’re going to lose and you go out there smash a guy up and rip the title off ‘em! That would be ideal for me.”

The super-bantamweight division needs to watch out because Kid Galahad has a point to prove following his lengthy ban and is prepared to take on anyone to show just how talented he is.

“I don’t like losing at anything, literally anything, I don’t like

losing. That’s just the mentality I’ve got.”

HE’S BACK:Galahad is eligible

to fight next month

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MARCH 23 2016 SHEFFIELD BOXING 5

hen Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham came to

Sheffield in the late 1970s and started training

in Brendan Ingle’s Wincobank converted church hall, he could never have imagined the impact that decision would have on the landscape of British boxing.

In the 30 years that followed, Sheffield fighters have seen glory between the ropes, with the city churning out English, British, Commonwealth, European and even World Champions with striking regularity. Brendan Ingle’s Gym, relatively unheard of before Graham,

now sits alongside the best boxing gyms in the country – the flagship gym for a city flooded with boxing talent.

The foundations for the city’s love of boxing stretches back nearly 80 years before Herol Graham would be fighting on the world stage under the Sheffield banner. The roots of Sheffield’s obsession with boxing can be traced back to the early 1900s, as the transition from bare knuckle to glove fighting was at an end.

The Sheffield City Boxing club was the go to place for everyday fight fans but the big fights were in military drill halls – the halls on Norfolk Road, Glossop Road and Edmund Road held fights right up until the Second World War.

It was in the 1920s that the sport truly took over the city. Miles Templeton, a leading expert on British boxing, said: “There was one boxer in particular – Gus Platts. He was kind of Mr. Boxing in Sheffield, he used to run a gym at a hotel called the Blue Boar, which was his pub basically with a gym upstairs.

“He ran boxing in the town, refereed, promoted, and boxed himself obviously. He was a trainer and he had a gym in the centre of the town and it was packed full of fighters.”

Platts would go on to fight Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis, the best fighter in the country at the time, but it was the attendances at Sheffield boxing events which show the sheer popularity of the sport. By the 1930s, you could go and see outdoors

boxing in Sheffield on a Saturday afternoon in three different places – each show drawing crowds of between 4,000 and 12,000. In that period, there were an unprecedented number of professional boxing shows, with between 7,000 and 9,000 professional boxing shows a year across the country.

“There might be as many people seeing boxing in the open air in the early 30s in the summer as there were going to see Sheffield United or Wednesday. It was that big,” Templeton said.

The Second World War would bring a decline in boxing and after the war the city would struggle to bring back its fight-town status.

How the Steel City forged glove talent From the 1920s birth to the 1980s revolution, Sheffield has become a premier boxing town.

Flashback

The history of Sheffield boxing

06/04/1930 1964 23/05/1983 19946,000 attend a

boxing show in Sheffield Hyde

Park.

Brendan Ingle asked to help youth

by local vicor.

Herol Graham wins European Title vs Clement Tshinza.

Glyn Rhodes takes up boxing

training.

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MR SHEFFIELD BOXING:Gus Platts in the 1920s


In 1964, the local vicar in Wincobank approached Brendan Ingle to help with the young people in the area – what started off as an evening dance at St. Thomas’ church hall soon turned into a boxing gym.

Since it opened, the gym has hardly changed. Iron girders hang above for the heavy bags, there is no cardio area and the ring is still positioned at the far end of the hall. The rough, wooden floor still shows the original painted lines and circles, dictating how to master your footwork – something the gym prides itself on.

Brendan, now 75, recalled: “When I

put those lines on the floor everybody thought I was crazy, but as I said to them, this game’s about not getting hit, hitting and moving.”

“When we said to people we were going to turn out British, Commonwealth, European and World champions; they thought we were nutcases.”

The legendary trainer still sits in the gym every day, taking a hands off role in training future champions. Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham was his first. Graham is acknowledged as one of the best boxers never to win a world title, falling short on three occasions. He was a

beautiful fighter to watch, impossible to hit and had incredible power.

Glyn Rhodes, who trained alongside Graham and would coach him at the end of his career, said: “Knowing Herol from 17, it was always a foregone conclusion he was going to be champion somewhere down the line. You looked at him and thought – he’s going to go places.

“You only need one guy to spark a city, before Bomber nobody knew Brendan [Ingle].”

After Graham, came the fighter that shone international spotlight on Sheffield, with his unique new style,

How the Steel City forged glove talent From the 1920s birth to the 1980s revolution, Sheffield has become a premier boxing town.

30/09/1995 22/11/1995 10/11/1997Prince Naseem wins first World

Title vs Steve Robinson at age 21.

Paul ‘Silky’ Jones wins World Title vs

Verno Phillips.

Ingle Gym Sky Sports show. Ryan

Rhodes, Prince Naseem and

Nelson on card.

THE FIRST:Herol Graham starts the

Sheffield revolution

MARCH 23, 2016 SHEFFIELD BOXING 7

Prince Naseem Hamed fascinated fans. ‘Naz’ would lead the Sheffield contingent as they conquered the world in the 1990s and early 2000s, producing six world champions. “Prince Naseem did an awful lot to popularise, and bring Asian fighters into the game. There’s a hell of a lot of Asian fighters coming out now thanks to Naz,” said Templeton.

Known for his flamboyant – some would call cocky – style, Naseem was a character like no other in the sport. With his iconic flip into the ring and dancing around his opponent, he quickly became a love or hate character – but adored by his Sheffield fans.

He picked up his first world title in 1995, at just 21-years-old, and continuing on his incredible march to

the top of the sport, winning the IBF, WBO and WBC featherweight titles before hanging up his gloves. Including a iconic title defense against Kevin Kelley in Madison Square Garden, where Naseem was on the canvas but

fought back to record a knock-out victory against his challenger.

His only loss came against legendary fighter Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas, April 2001. He was the star of British boxing, even Chris Eubank could only fight on his undercard – Naseem was the big ticket of 1990s boxing.

The Ingle Gym continued to produce champions. Johnny Nelson holds the record for most title defences as WBO Cruiserweight world champion, Ryan Rhodes led Europe at light-middleweight, Junior Witter battled to a world title and now Kell Brook is ranked inside the top-10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

But it is not just the Ingle Gym that produced title contenders, with stars

Flashback

The history of Sheffield boxing

27/03/1999 07/04/2001 07/09/2002 04/03/2005Johnny Nelson

becomes a World Champion with win over Carl Thompson.

Legendary Prince Naseem vs Marc Antonio Barrera

fight in LasVegas.

Clinton Woods loses to pound-

for-pound World Champion Roy

Jones Jr.

Clinton Woods wins IBF Light Heavyweight

World Title vs. Rico Hoye.

TRADEMARK:Prince Naseem lands a

straight right

THE CHAMP:Junior Witter with his titles



like Paul ‘Silky’ Jones and Clinton Woods both winning their world Titles with no help from the Ingles – this is a boxing city, the success is not confined to a single gym in Wincobank.

Boxing is ingrained into the community, with knowledge passed down from trainer to fighter, who like Glyn Rhodes and Ryan Rhodes, have opened their own gyms.

In 2013, Glyn Rhodes was awarded a MBE for his services to boxing and charity, the second boxer in the city, alongside Brendan Ingle, to be given a MBE. Glyn said: “I thought – me? A MBE? When I left school the last report was the attitude that I have will only lead to disaster in later life.

“If you look at this it’s just a smelly old boxing gym but in the years that we’ve been here we’ve raised over £350,000 for charity, that’s mad.”

Glyn learned everything he knew from Brendan, and now Glyn is passing

his knowledge onto Sam Sheedy – one of the promising fighters at Sheffield Boxing Centre. On the other side of the city, Ryan Rhodes is doing exactly the same, passing his knowledge down to his fighters – ensuring a boxing legacy in the Sheffield.

Beyond the professional, Sheffield boxing is growing at the grassroots level, with trainers like Glyn and Brendan Warburton at Sheffield City ABC. These gyms are multi-cultural and representative of how boxing unites communities in the city.

Warburton said: “A big thing with our gym is community, we’ve got so many nationalities down here that I lose count. It’s like the United Nations. We have people from all over the world.”

Now, talented fighters like Sam O’Maison, Kid Galahad, Adam Etches, Leigh Wood and Jordan Gill, led by Kell Brook, are the headline makers in the city.

“There’s always kids coming through, that’s the mad thing, you never know when the next one’s gonna go through this city, it’s just like a big conveyer belt,” Kid Galahad said.

Sheffield is a boxing stage, a stage that a new generation of fighters and trainers are ready to grace.

Once, Manchester and East London were the main breeding grounds for British boxing, but in the past 30 years Sheffield has established itself alongside the big players and it is a matter of when, not if, the city produces its next world champion.

Paul ‘Silky’ Jones31-12-1WBO World Light Middleweight

‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed36-1WBO, IBF and WBC World Featherweight

Johnny Nelson45-12-2WBO World Cruiserweight

Clinton Woods42-5-1IBF World Light Heavyweight

Junior Witter43-8-2WBC World Light Welterweight

Kell Brook36-0 IBF World Welterweight

Sheffield World Champions

15/09/2006 23/10/2009 16/08/2014Junior Witter

defeats DeMarcus Corley to win

WBC World Super Lightweight title.

Ryan Rhodes beats Jamie

Moore in 2009 fight of the year.

Kell Brook beats Kevin Porter

in California to become World

Champion.

ROYALS:Glyn Rhodes meets Prince Charles



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“This city, it’s just like a big conveyer belt.”

SHOT OF THE WEEK

FORGING CHAMPIONSTHE NEXT generation of Sheffield stars train inside the legendary Ingle Gym. Working the footwork lines and circles

IG-HITTER Sam ‘The Sensation’ O’Maison says he can win ‘everything’ with former European

champion Ryan Rhodes in his corner – ahead of his 14th professional fight on April 2.

The 24-year-old light-welterweight, from Shiregreen, Sheffield, has been dominant so far in his career, with 12 wins and only one loss, including five knockouts.

He knocked out Anthony Hardy within 30 seconds to win the British Classic Challenge super-lightweight belt in his last bout.

O’Maison, who is trained by Ryan Rhodes at 26RR Fitness on London Road, is confident he will achieve even bigger things this year: “I’ll hopefully win the English and British this year.

“If you said to me next week ‘you’re fighting’ I’m ready all the time, I’m ticking over, I don’t have days off.”

He added: “Without sounding too big-headed, I want to win everything. I’ve been at it too long and I’ve worked too hard to not receive everything that I should want from it. I’m ready now without a doubt.”

Since turning professional in 2012, O’Maison’s only loss came against Michael Mooney in 2014 – a loss he blames on a “weight problem” but he said:

“I’ve learnt the most from that fight and I needed that fight, even though it didn’t go well, but that’s the fight I needed the most.”

‘The Sensation’ began his boxing career at the Ingle Gym but after leaving because of “personal differences”, he was close to

quitting the sport he’d been involved in since he was 14.

But trainer Ryan Rhodes took on O’Maison, who he says gave him a “new lift” and motivated him to keep boxing.

Rhodes was part of the golden generation of Sheffield fighters in the 1990s– becoming European and English champion.

O’Maison believes the former champion can take him to the very top:

“He’s done it all. He’s fought for every title you can think of. I’m confident in everything he says, training is bang on, I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

The former Ingle protégé looks set to assault the welterweight division, like Sheffield’s world champion Kell Brook.

Chris Dutton, a 10-year cruiserweight,

praised his sparring partner: “No-one has ever hit me as hard as Sam.

“I imagine that’s what it feels like if you’re shot at point blank range”

While the future is promising, O’Maison is still focused on the present and his next fight, he said: “I think it will be wicked. I’ve come here and trained hard.

“Me and Ryan have a lot of one to ones, so he’s giving me 100%, I’m giving him 100%. That’s what I need.”

“I’m going in confident and knowing I can get the job done. I don’t only train and think I’m ready, I don’t just think it, I feel it,” added O’Maison.

Sam ‘The Sensation’ O’Maison’s opponent is yet to be confirmed for April 2 at the Magna Centre in Rotherham.

O’Maison confident he will win English and British title ‘this year’

Rising Stars

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WINNING PARTNERSHIP:O’Maison (left) with trainer

Ryan Rhodes

PREPARED:O’Maison ready for the big-time


Bizier a warm-up for Kell’s summer megafight

BF world champion, popular and confident, Kell Brook already has his eyes set on those “big big fights” but first he has to

deal with mandatory challenger Kevin Bizier this weekend.

The two meet at the Sheffield Arena on Saturday night, with a packed undercard including Luke Campbell, Adam Etches, Leigh Wood and Jordan Gill – with Brook topping the bill in his third world title defence.

Brook, ‘The Special One’, speaking at the pre-fight press conference, said: “I’m desperate for an old-fashioned war. I know Bizier is a strong come-forward fighter and I’m looking to excite everyone who comes to the show and have an old-fashioned war.

“Saturday night, it’s about breaking Mr Biziers heart and breaking his bones, so here we go. This is what I was born for.”

Brook is a man with a point to prove, following two defences against lesser opponents and calls for him to mix it with the big boys, he knows this:

“I need to go out there and show everybody why I’m the champion – I believe that I’m the best Welterweight on the planet and I’m ready for them big big fights. I always find a way to win.”

Bizier, from Quebec, Canada, has

fought his way to becoming number one contender despite not being ranked in the top 15 Welterweights with the WBA or WBC, generating concern about how the IBF selects its mandatory challengers.

He has said he wants to fight on the inside, eliminating Brook’s jab, but Shawn Porter had the same plan in August 2014 when Brook beat him to win his world title.

Bizier has been beat twice by Jo-Jo Dan, the fighter Kell Brook knocked-out with ease 12 months ago. Throughout fight-week, Bizier has looked a man consigned to defeat, displaying no real confidence at the press-conference or public workout.

But, Dominic Ingle, Brook’s trainer, is not taking the Canadian lightly, he said:

“You’ve got to be on your toes with Kevin Bizier, he’s usually there for 12 rounds. He can definitely dig, but that could be an advantage for Kell when he starts to swing.”

Despite the big fight build up, it is Brook’s future which holds more interest, with experts and fans expecting a short night and Kell securing his 25th knock-out win. Judging by the bookmakers, you’d need three Kevin Biziers to stand a chance against Brook.

Big-names like Timothy Bradley, Jessie Vargas, Danny Garcia and even Manny Pacquaio are being touted – a domestic dust-up with Amir Khan off the cards, with Khan opting to move up weight to face Canelo Alvarez.

Former world champion Clinton Woods, had this to say: “I think Brook’s a brilliant fighter. If I were him, I’d just leave the Amir Khan thing, forget about that.

“I think he needs to get hold of one of these big boys now, one of these Americans, he’s definitely got all the skills – he looks the part.”

Timothy Bradley looks the most likely summer-blockbuster opponent for Brook – as suggested by promoter Eddie Hearn.

But first Kell must ensure he puts away his mandatory challenger, release the frustration built up during his long injury and continue to prove he is the top welterweight on the planet.

Bizier has never been stopped and Brook will look to break that record in front of his adoring home crowd, in what he calls a “destruct and destroy mission” on Saturday night.

THE VERDICT Brook to win by knock-out in the fourth round

Fight Night Preview

BROOK PREPARED FOR‘OLD FASHIONED WAR’

TALE OF THE TAPE Kell Brook29English5ft 9in35-024177

Kevin Bizier31

Canadian5 ft 9in

25-217

131

AgeNat.HeightRecordBy KORounds

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ALL OF THE LIGHTS: Kell Brook (left) faces up to challenger Kevin Bizier


‘I was on my own and then there was the Ingle’s gym.’Sheffield legend Clinton Woods was never part of the

Ingle Gym set-up but he thrived on his underdog status and now a documentary about his career is being made

Steel City Heroes

linton Woods always knew that he had to work harder than other fighters to make it in professional

boxing. Woods was always the underdog, the man in Sheffield fighting outside of the Ingle Gym set-up but determined to make his mark on the sport – surpassing even his own modest expectations.

After four attempts, working his way to the top time after time, Woods finally became the IBF world light heavyweight champion against Rico Hoye in 2005. Ten years after turning professional, his hard work had paid off.

The 43-year-old’s work ethic is so appreciated that over ten years on, a documentary about his life is being released, titled ‘A Skinny Boy from Sheffield.’

It could have been so different, most fighters have a burning passion for the sport but Woods didn’t even follow boxing and quit the sport at 15.

“I never thought I was going to win

anything. I walked back into a gym when I was 21 just to keep fit, I had no aspirations. I’d never been a boxing lover to tell the truth. I didn’t watch any fights. I just went for fitness and just kept winning titles. It took me a long time to win the world title, it took me 12 years, but in the end I did it,” Woods said.

Woods started boxing at Hillsborough Boys Club when he was seven, trained by Ray Gillett, after his Dad bought him boxing gloves and a punch-bag for Christmas, despite his other seven siblings getting football gear.

When he turned professional Woods was already a young father and working on a construction site to support his family. He was no boxer - the future champion was a plasterer.

But just seven years after leaving the building site, having compiled a 32-1 record and becoming European champion, he would be in the ring against one of the greatest of all-time after earning a shot at the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world on his home turf in front of 16,000 people for the world title.

The Roy Jones Jr. fight will always stick in the mind of the Sheffield champion, the only time he had ever been stopped, “It was a big step between me and [Roy] Jones Jr. My mindset was to go in and give it my best shot. I lost a fight, but it was a great experience and after that fight I really became a proper boxer.

“I boxed a lot of fighters who were better than me but I just got myself that fit, I always knew if I could get fitter then I could wear them down. I always knew I’d get them before the fight was over.”

The Sheffield-man trained all over the world, from training with Glyn Rhodes, to doing a stint at the Shuler Boxing Gym in Philadelphia, notoriously one of the toughest gyms in the world.

Woods lost his world title to Antonio Tarver, the IBO world champion, by unanimous decision in April 2008 after four straight defences, but confesses the fight should never have gone ahead and is one of the few regrets in his career.

He had injured his back just two weeks before the fight, “Nothing had gone right. We asked to pull out but they more or less

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THE UNDERDOG:Woods (left) fights back against

Antonio Tarver


“I just didn’t enjoy it, I think I went into too it early. When

it was fight night, I felt as though it should be me.”

told me I couldn’t, so we carried on. It was probably the worst performance of my career.

“It was terrible, I lost on points to a great fighter but I always wished I had pulled out of that fight.”

When fans talk about Sheffield boxing, the stars of the Ingle Gym are first mentioned and Woods second. While Woods was fighting under the radar on small shows at the Pinewood Club, Ingle was having its own Sky Sport’s boxing shows and documentaries.

This inspired Woods to better them and prove there was more to Steel City boxing, “I was on my own and there was the Ingle’s Gym. Naseem [Hamed] was surrounded by guys who got a lift up because of who he was. I did it on my own. I didn’t have all these names around me.

“I was slowly coming up at the side of them. And you know what? Who got the big name fight? It was me.

“Everybody talks about the Ingle’s Gym but what boxing legend from Sheffield has a star underneath the town hall steps? It’s me. Out of all the boxers, who has a statue? It’s me.”

Brendan Ingle received a town hall star but no fighter from his gym has ever achieved the same feat. Woods’ was “proud as punch” when his statue was put-up high above the Sheffield Road near Killamarsh, which was voted for by the public.

After a 2009 defeat to Tavoris Cloud, Woods decided to hang up his gloves, after losing his passion for the sport. He looked down other avenues but eventually opened a gym in his home city and started running boxing fitness classes.

With his reputation, Woods naturally had professionals asking to be coached by him and took on six or seven, but after 20 years in the ring he said he, “absolutely hated”, that part of it.

Woods recalled, “I just didn’t enjoy it, I think I went into to it early. When it was fight night, I felt as though it should be me in the ring. I used to get depressed so I packed that part of it all in, went back to just doing boxing fitness which I really

enjoy. Now, I don’t really watch boxing anymore.”

As with any greats of the sport, there are constant suggestions they will come out of retirement and Woods is no exception. Promoters have offered him £100,000 recently to get back in the ring. He has been rang a couple of times and offered the chance to fight Roy Jones Jr. again, to which he suggests if they offered him “enough money” he would take the fight.

But don’t expect to see Woods back anytime soon, fighting is in his past and the endeavour in the way he won his titles will never be forgotten by the adoring Sheffield crowds who watched ‘Clint’ in his prime.

“I miss the buzz. You’ll never get that buzz back, walking out to the ring, you can’t pay for it. But I don’t miss boxing. The relief when I retired, the relief that I had finished was unbelievable. I walked out the ring and thought ‘thank god for that’.

“I had a good career. Me and my manager Dennis Hobson did it from day one together and finished it together. Nobody expected me to win anything and I won everything.”

TOO SOON:Woods is stopped against

Roy Jones Jr.

ALL SMILES:Woods finally wins his IBF World Title


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Sheffield Boxing In Pictures

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