Boxing: De la Hoya the main course to follow Jones
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Britain's Clinton Woods, the latest fodder for the showboat caperings of the world's undisputed light-heavyweight champion, Roy Jones, fought gamely until his corner and the referee simultaneously decided that the grisly show had gone on quite long enough.
Nothing defines the current problems of boxing quite like the career of Jones, a marvellously talented fighter, who long ago settled for the easiest of pickings. The point has been made here before, and has to be tempered on this occasion by the fact that Woods was the official No 1 challenger, but something the beaten man said in his post-fight BBC interview was especially jarring.
Woods, who misguidedly had shown his version of the "Ali Shuffle" to a fighter inhabiting another planet, refused to complain about the showboating of Jones once the fight was plainly over. In fact, he shrugged and said: "It's what the fans expect."
To be more precise, it is what they are required to make do with. What they would really like is a vaguely competitive fight. It is to be hoped that the BBC will have something more substantial to show next weekend when they run Oscar de la Hoya against Fernando Vargas. De la Hoya, despite his setbacks, is still ranked among the top five or six fighters across the weights.
De la Hoya was once rated the hope of boxing. Vargas is a bit of a whirlwind. Fights fans will thus, relatively speaking, look forward to a feast. Or, with a Lewis-Tyson reprise in the works, maybe a Last Supper.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments