SHEFFIELD, England -- Clinton Woods will defend his IBF light-heavyweight title against Antonio Tarver on April 12 and then attempt to set up a fight with Joe Calzaghe.
Making his fifth defense, the English fighter will take on the 39-year-old former undisputed champion in Tampa, Fla., a week before Calzaghe faces Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas in the same weight division.
"It is a fight I have been longing for," Woods said Tuesday of the Tarver fight. "He told me he would beat me years ago. Well, now he has got the chance.
"He can't run any longer because the deal has been made. It is smell-the-coffee time and he is going to find out the hard way what a thorough beating is all about."
Tarver captured the world title by knocking out Roy Jones Jr. in 2004 but lost it to Hopkins two years later.
"If Joe Calzaghe gets past 'granddad' Hopkins the week after I make mincemeat of Tarver, he can come looking for me. I'm ready for Calzaghe any time and any place and he knows it."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Making his fifth defense, the English fighter will take on the 39-year-old former undisputed champion in Tampa, Fla., a week before Calzaghe faces Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas in the same weight division.
"It is a fight I have been longing for," Woods said Tuesday of the Tarver fight. "He told me he would beat me years ago. Well, now he has got the chance.
"He can't run any longer because the deal has been made. It is smell-the-coffee time and he is going to find out the hard way what a thorough beating is all about."
Tarver captured the world title by knocking out Roy Jones Jr. in 2004 but lost it to Hopkins two years later.
"If Joe Calzaghe gets past 'granddad' Hopkins the week after I make mincemeat of Tarver, he can come looking for me. I'm ready for Calzaghe any time and any place and he knows it."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
