By Jim Dower: 41-year-old former International Boxing Federation light heavyweight champion Glen Johnson (50-13-2, 34 KO’s) turned back the clocks tonight in taking out 30-year-old Yusaf Mack (28-3-2, 17 KO’s) in the 6th round in an IBF light heavyweight title eliminator bout at the NSU Arena, Don Taft University Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Johnson, although starting to show his years some, had too much power for Mack and basically bludgeoned him into submission in the 6th round. Johnson, who was dominated in a 12 round decision loss to Chad Dawson in November, didn’t look all that good in the early going of Friday night’s fight. Johnson took some heavy shots from Mack in the first three rounds of the bout.

However, Johnson’s unrelenting pressure and hard combinations soon began to have Mack in retreat, trying to escape from Johnson’s big shots. In the 6th round, Johnson dropped Mack three times with right hands to the head. After Mack took a knee on the third knockout, the bout was stopped at 2:21 of the 6th round. The win was an especially important one for Johnson, because it allows him to move forward for a title shot against IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud in his next fight.

In other action on the same card, two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux destroyed Adolfo Landeros in a 1st round stoppage.