Woods Travels the Comeback Trail

When Timothy "Reshad" Woods strolls out to the main stage of Patriot Center on Saturday night for his 185-pound fight against Ryan "The Rhino" Sturdy (11-3-1) as part of Ultimate Warrior Challenge 7: Redemption -- a nine-card mixed martial arts event -- his return to fighting after a deflating loss last April will be just one of many rebounds in his life.

A 33-year-old resident of Sterling, Woods (4-2) has traveled a circuitous path that has taken him from a budding basketball career to a cell in an adult maximum security prison at the age of 16. It includes an escape from poverty, a name change, a departure from and return to religion, and most recently a shift in focus from himself to his infant son Julian, who was born three months premature and is currently fighting for his life in an incubator at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring.

During the 1992-93 season, Woods was the star of the Jones High School varsity basketball team in Orlando, a 6-foot-4 leaper with a jump shot. Basketball seemed to offer Woods a chance to escape his poverty-stricken neighborhood and a small house packed with seven brothers and sisters as well as his father, a tough, no-nonsense construction worker, and his mother, a hotel maid.

That plan derailed before it got far. Woods said he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" when he took part in an armed robbery in 1993. He spent four years in Hamilton Correctional Institution, an adult prison near Orlando. He has been on probation since 1997 and will remain on probation until 2012.

"For me, never being arrested, never [having] a juvenile background or anything, just all the sudden you're going to college, you've got a life going on, you've got your girlfriend, you're going to prom, everything's good and all of the sudden, you go to prison," Woods said. "I always told myself, never again, I will never be a follower. Never."

With a fresh start, 19-year-old Woods focused on boxing and muay thai.

He worked his way from a small punching bag in his garage to appearances in small boxing events in Orlando before eventually making his way to Virginia nearly five years ago.

He trained with One Spirit Martial Arts in Herndon before joining Lloyd Irvin's team in Temple Hills, where Irvin pays Woods an undisclosed amount to work out at his 10,000-square foot facility and train students -- an arrangement Woods likened to "being on scholarship."

With quick hands, and explosive knees and elbows, Woods won four straight matches and was destined for bigger shows, such as UFC and Strikeforce. But those aspirations took a hit last April with a second-round loss to former UFC star Jon Koppenhaver (a.k.a War Machine). As Woods sat up on the canvas to catch his breath, he knew he had slipped up, cheated his diet plan, disappointed his corner, his trainer and himself.

"I made a promise to them that it won't happen again," Woods said.

Winning Saturday night's fight is crucial for Woods if he is to reach UFC or Strikeforce, arenas that experts say are likely for Woods because of his "strong punch power, reach, explosive speed, physical strength, durability under punishment and gameness," said Luke Thomas, an MMA expert who is a UWC commentator and editor of a respected MMA Web site.

Now, focused on his comeback, Woods is adhering to a strict diet and training regimen and sharpening his signature skills: fast hands, kicks, and a strong set of knees he uses to punish his opponents' rib cages. He spends eight hours a day in the gym: 6 a.m. conditioning sessions are three days a week, technical work and cage work are Tuesdays and Thursdays and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday he's boxing at 10:30 a.m., in the cage at 3:30 p.m. for ground-and-pound, and sparring at night. Saturday is bag work.

He manages to stick to this schedule despite sleeping on the floor at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring so that he can be near Julian, who has lost five ounces since his premature birth at 2 pounds 5 ounces.

"There's something about him just the way he kicks and moves when I talk to him. Fifty-fifty chance [of survival]," Woods said. "He's a fighter. Really feisty is the word, he's really feisty, so the nurse said the more feisty they are the better chance they have to survive."

Woods has also made other changes. He was recently baptized and, known to most as "Reshad," he has returned to his birth name "Timothy" because of its biblical reference. Irvin has changed Woods's fight name from "The Show" to "The Good Soldier."

"A lot of times in America today, when you have a felony on your record, you don't get another chance," Irvin said. "What he's doing is admirable. He's kept a good path. He's gotten away from all the bad influences in his life."