Last night in San Jacinto, California, unbeaten Ukrainian heavyweight prospect Tsonte Rogava scored a wide eight-round unanimous decision win over tough and experienced journeyman Terrell Jamal Woods. 31 year old Rogava, trained by Joe Goossen, won by the same score of 80-71 on all three cards and he is now 8-0(7). Woods, a man who has one of the most deceptive-looking records in pro boxing today, is now 29-60-10(21).
Rogava, who had “Mr. T” written across his waistband, was having his fifth fight of this year against Woods, with his four previous fights from 2024 each ending inside a round. 34 year old Woods made Rogava word a bit harder. Rogava, who has pretty fast hands and was picking his punches well last night, went to the body of Woods and he also showed a dangerous right uppercut upstairs.
Woods, hailing from Forrest City, Arkansas, is rarely stopped, he knows his way around a ring and he can more than look after himself in there, but Rogava did score a knockdown in round five, this when he had Woods in a corner, with him landing a left/right to the head. Woods got back up and the fight resumed, with Rogava the man on the front foot once again.
Woods wasn’t doing enough work, but when he did let his hands go, as he did in the fourth and in the eighth and final round, he did have a little bit of success. The final round was the best round of the fight, with both men letting the leather fly. Rogava has a heavy-looking right hand, while his work-rate was good last night. For sure, Rogava is a heavyweight to keep an eye on, and it will be interesting seeing who he is matched with next.
Rogava, who now lives in Marina del Rey, Ca, lost his 100 percent KO record last night, but both he and trainer Goossen will no doubt be glad to have got the eight good rounds of work in. Rogava had been sparring with Oleksandr Gvodzyk a short while ago. It’s still too early to be able to say if Rogava can go on and do anything big at heavyweight, but to repeat, he is a fighter to watch. As for Woods, fighters such as he are the backbone of the sport and he can be sure he will remain in employment for some time to come.
