Woods retains title

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Fighting for the first time in 12 months after undergoing two painful bouts of elbow surgery, Woods summoned a performance of seething intensity to see off his rival by scores of 117-111, 115-113, 116-112.

It was an exhilarating win for Woods, made all the sweeter because it confirmed his recovery from the persistent injury problems which denied him the chance to build on his career-best win over recognised world number one Glen Johnson a year ago.

Woods had torn tendons in the course of that victory, and his subsequent problems forced the cancellation of a projected dream date on the undercard of Ricky Hatton's Las Vegas fight in June.

But he had insisted before this mandated rematch against Gonzalez that he would be better than ever, after finally preparing for a fight without having to go through the pain barrier.

Woods made good on his words from the start and produced a fight of the year contender and claimed an absorbing victory and fire a message out to the other world light-heavyweight champions that he is anything but finished.

Woods said: "It was a tough fight, and I can't believe what a tough fighter Gonzalez is. I thought I was going to stop him in the 11th round - but somehow he stayed on his feet.

"To tell you the truth, I'm very tired after having a year out with my injuries. I found it hard getting rhythm but I wasn't really troubled in the fight. I'm very proud to have proved how well Sheffield fighters can fight."