Boxing: Woods' illusions exposed by dazzling ringcraft of Jones

When the towel fluttered into the ring after 89 seconds of round six there was barely a murmur of discontent from Clinton Woods as he walked back to the arms of his cornermen and away from the fists of the undisputed world light heavyweight champion, Roy Jones, here on Saturday night.

Woods had tried several tactics to prolong his challenge for Jones' World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council titles, but from the final seconds of round three he had little chance of surviving what was slowly becoming a painful lesson with the world's best pound-for-pound fighter.

"What could I do?" said Woods. "Even when I was looking in his eyes he somehow still hit me with a punch and nobody has ever done anything like that to me before. I don't know how anybody can beat him until he gets real old."

The turning point was the slick left uppercut that Jones threw a second before the bell to end round three and as Woods turned to take his minute's break the air left his chest and he bent forward in pain. In the fourth round Jones simply and carefully picked the punches that would end his latest defence until Woods' acting manager, Dennis Hobson, threw in the towel.

"Clinton is my friend first and a boxer second," said Hobson. "I could see that there was nothing he could do but I knew he would never quit. The fight had to end because it is only a sport so that is why I did what I did." The referee, Jay Nady, had approached the corner at the end of round five to make sure that the British, Commonwealth and European champion could continue. Though reassured, he was prepared to stop the bout at that point.

Jones, 33, won the five completed rounds but the fight had stopped being mildly competitive from the start of the fourth when it was clear that Woods was hurt. The challenger's decline allowed the enigmatic American champion to perform a series of trick punches that included one that required him to hit his foot and then in the same motion hit Woods's chin. Jones had earlier performed his latest song from a makeshift stage high in the crowd of 15,000.

"Clinton's corner did the right thing because I'm not in the boxing business to hurt people," insisted Jones, who retained the six world light heavyweight belts that he has collected during the last six years. "He was brave, perhaps too brave, and I knew that he would not quit and that is a dangerous combination to bring to the ring for a fight against me."

Jones now has seven days to agree a deal with HBO for a unique fight with the WBA heavyweight champion, John Ruiz. There is a very real chance that the extraordinary fight can be made and in the days before last weekend's fight Jones gathered members of his team to study several of Ruiz's bruising wins. Woods was a formality in his eyes and no last-minute tapes were necessary.