Clinton Woods has seen a world title final eliminator against Michael Nunn slip away three times over the last eight months. Then an opportunity to meet Nunn’s substitute Greg Wright fell through when the WBC refused to sanction the fight as a final eliminator.
Now Woods must content himself with a vacant WBC international light-heavyweight title fight with the former British super-middleweight champion, Ali Forbes, at Ponds Forge in Sheffield tonight.It may not all be bad news for the former undefeated European title holder. The promoter, Panos Eliades, has heard that the undisputed super-champion, Roy Jones, could be ready to move down a division from light-heavyweight and that may leave Woods with a chance to fight Germany’s Thomas Ulrich for the vacant title. However, Jones is unlikely to relinquish any of his belts and no sanctioning body is likely to strip him of them.Eliades has discussed Woods’ situation with the WBC president, Jose Sulaiman, who is said to be “sympathetic”, but, even so, a win over Forbes cannot be counted as a final eliminator. It could only help cement Woods’ place at No 1 and then he would have to sit tight while Jones decides if he drops to super-middleweight after disposing of all recent challengers at light-heavyweight.”Nunn decided not come to England to fight Woods,” Eliades said.

“But Roy Jones’ camp told me he’s going to go down to fight at super-middleweight If he does that, Clinton’s in a good position. He’s number one and he’ll have to fight the number two – that could be Ulrich That’s a good fight for Clinton and one he can win. It may work in his favour, although he might not fight Jones. For Clinton to be a mandatory contender, he may still have to fight an eliminator. If Jones stays at light-heavyweight, Woods probably has to win an eliminator to be that mandatory challenger. And Jones will have to fight that mandatory.”Woods-Nunn should have been staged on the Lennox Lewis-Frans Botha bill at the London Arena last July, but fell through.

It was re-arranged for November, but Woods sustained a cut eye and now it seems that the Sheffield contender may never get to meet the southpaw dubbed “Second to Nunn” when he reigned as one of the slickest world champions in the 1990s.While the title picture may have become blurred, the clear focus for Woods is to see off the energetic Forbes, who held the British crown for three months in 1995 but has lost his last four fights.. Paula Radcliffe of Britain dominated the mud and water to claim her first world cross country title today, outkicking favourite Gete Wami of Ethiopia in the finishing straight Kenya’s Lydia Cheromei took bronze. Paula Radcliffe of Britain dominated the mud and water to claim her first world cross country title today, outkicking favourite Gete Wami of Ethiopia in the finishing straight. Kenya’s Lydia Cheromei took bronze.
Radcliffe, whose whole career had been hampered by the lack of a finishing kick, refused to yield to Wami in the last meters Saturday, and with head bobbing with effort, she fought back to win the 7.7-kilometer race in 12.49 minutes, 3 seconds ahead of Wami.Cheromei finished in 28.07.On the foggy, waterlogged Wellington Hippodrome, Wami ran with consummate ease in the slipstream of Radcliffe over the last lap, but could not rely on her vaunted sprint finish to kick Radcliffe loose.Radcliffe has been in great form this winter, losing only once.Defending champion Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia, who won three golds since 1995, missed this edition because of a recurring knee injury.Radcliffe has long been beloved for her dogged perseverance but bemoaned for her lack of finishing kick.On Saturday,that changed.Kenyan teen-ager Enock Koech won the men’s short race, easily outpacing Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele. Another Kenyan, Benjamin Limo, took the bronze.Koech, 19, had already won the Kenyan 4-kilometer trials coming into the world championships.Kenyan runners dominated the race from the start, with five of the top six runners leading into the final lap.