The two characters could not be more different. Clinton Woods likes caravanning on the North Yorkshire coast - Antonio Tarver’s hobby is telling people how good he is. When the two met in London yesterday to publicise their April 12 bout for Woods’s IBF light-heavyweight title in Tampa, Florida, Tarver was smarting from having to arrive in a black cab. As one of the biggest names in the sport and a movie star to boot, he expects a limousine.
Tarver, who played Sylvester Stallone’s opponent in Rocky Balboa, ticks all the boxes when it comes to a clich?d world champion and has a fast tongue. “You are going to learn to respect me,” Tarver said to Woods. “You are a hand-picked opponent, you couldn’t carry my bags.”
For the laid-back Woods, it was a taster of what awaits him in America. “It’s not really in my nature to shout back,” he said. “I didn’t like him before, now I can’t stand him.”