He's got four brothers and two sisters - and as young siblings tend to do they were all constantly fighting! At the age of seven Clinton's father took his son along to the local boxing gym.
He loved it from the beginning and by the tender age of 11 Woods was boxing at amateur level and by the age of 16 he'd had over 80 amateur fights!
At this age Woods temporarily finished his stint in the ring and worked with his brothers leading a 'normal' life until he turned professional five years down the line. When he eventually returned to the gym Clinton was sporting a pot belly and man breasts! He even had black eyes - this after an altercation in the local pub. He began training again - just to keep fit - and that's how he revived his career between the ropes.
Woods believes the period he spent away from the ring is likely to have done him some good - it was a five year period of not taking blows to the head
well, not in the ring anyway! Since then he has contested 39 professional bouts - from all those Clinton can only recall being hurt two or three times!
One of those occasions came courtesy of Roy Jones Junior - respected by many of his contemporaries and was said to be the best pound for pound fighter on the planet!
People may think that he wouldn't relish getting back in the ring with Jones, but he would - Clinton felt he did himself no justice and many believed Jones fought his best ever fight and was in the best shape ever. Woods sought treatment from a specialist after the second Glenncoffe Johnson fight who diagnosed a problem which effected his energy levels - he's now received treatment and feels in really good shape. He has been in the IBF top 10 for the last five years and fought some of the toughest opponents the world boxing stage can offer. This means that he hasn't fought any 'straightforward' bouts for two to three years and he's preparing to face American Richard Hall, seeded ninth by the IBF.  | | Junior Witter after defeating Salvatore Battaglia for the EBU Light Welterweight title |
He was hoping to take-on Joe Calzaghe, the WBO super middleweight champion. Woods believed he should move up to the light-heavy division to challenge himself - but as woods put it, "he chickened out." On fellow Sheffield boxer Junior Witter, Clinton believes that his proposed battle against Ricky Hatton should take place. "It's a fight that should happen
I'm not saying this because he's from Sheffield, but I believe Witter has the tools to beat Hatton." Clinton believes both the Hatton and Calzaghe fights haven't happened because they are the 'golden boys' of boxing promoter Frank Warren and it's likely both would be very tough fights for Warren's boxers. He also revealed why Team GB have only one competitor boxing in the Olympics: "There's a guy at our gym called Femi Fehintola," said Woods. "He has just turned professional and was British Champion as an amateur - I were talking to him and said - how come we've got no one in Olympics?"  | | 17-year-old British Olympian Amir Khan |
Femi explained that Britain has one of the toughest Olympic qualifying groups in the world. Our fighters have to beat the toughest boxers from a far afield as Russia - but Woods does believe that the amateur boxing authorities need a shake- up. "It's the same people running it now, who were running it when I were doing it 20 year ago," said Woods. Toby asked Clinton what he thought about all the debate and discussion from various people and organisations wanting to see the sport banned. "I feel great and I've had over 100 fights, but people in sports are always going to get hurt," said Woods. "It's a fact that more people die in football than they do in boxing - boxing is way down the list," he added. Clinton's next fight is scheduled for October 2004 - but before the fight against Hall he's set to marry his Spanish fiancé. He didn't plan a honeymoon due to the fight but hopes to take some time out after the bout.  Click here to listen to the full interview>>
Take a look at the Clinton Woods action gallery!
| 
