By Gari Jones: Photo credit: Casino/Showtime – Despite going the distance it was always going to be tough for Glen Johnson to try and beat the undefeated International Boxing Federation (IBF) Super Middleweight Champion Lucian Bute. Glen Johnson (W51, L16, D2, KO 35) who looked every bit his forty two (42) years of age, was totally outclassed by the much younger thirty one (31) year old Lucian Bute (W30, L0, D0, KO24). When the final bell rang the result was clear, Bute had dominated the fight from start to finish and the scorecards reflected that, two of the judges scored the fight 120-108 and one scored it 119-109.

The first four (4) rounds of the fight didn’t really produce anything spectacular. Whilst Johnson was throwing the Jab the only thing it was connecting with was the thin air. Bute began to control the centre of the ring by using his reach and quick head movement to throw Johnson’s timing off and was landing the more clinical shots.

As the bell rang for the end of round four (4) I had Bute way ahead on points, winning every single round by just landing the better punches. In criticism of Johnson he should’ve won at least one round as Bute wasn’t really doing much to earn them in the first place, just using them to size Johnson up.

As round five (5) began Bute started to loosen up, weaving and ducking looking to counter punch Johnson who by now was looking rather tense. Johnson seemed very tight in his guard and it was this tension that seemed to affect his jab even more, once again hitting thin air and falling a few inches short of Bute’s face. All this did was allow Bute to get off a few shots of own which despite having power behind them just missed their target or were glancing off the top of Glens head.

Through rounds six (6) and (7) Bute really had Glens number, picking him apart with carefully selected jabs, hooks and crosses to the head and to the body that started to show Johnson was out of his depth. It wasn’t as if he didn’t try to fight, Glen did up his work rate in those rounds but by then Bute had established a rhythm and Glen just couldn’t break it up.

Round eight (8) proved better for Johnson, looking more assertive in the fight his Jab was finding the mark, Glen tried to follow it up with hooks to the head and body but Bute answered Glen back by landing a nice left to the head in the closing stages of the round. Despite still landing the better shots, it was Glens work rate that won him his only round in my opinion.
By the end of round eight (8) Glen was looking exhausted, Bute’s work was clearly having an effect on the veteran. Glen was heading back to his corner shaking loose his legs that appeared to have that heavy feeling in them.

From round nine (9) onwards it was all Lucian Bute; confident in the feeling that Johnson couldn’t do anything to hurt him he began to up the work rate. Mixing up his punches with some nice one two combinations as well as some flurries that hurt Johnson some more, I’m impressed that Glen Johnson made it to the final round. However looking at the fight more closely, despite Johnson looking tanked and spent, Bute opted not to go for the kill choosing to wait for the final bell and get the decision.

When the final bell rang Bute immediately raised his arms knowing full well he’d won the fight, Johnson oddly enough also had his hands up in triumph. Although his arms rose it suggested that he lasted the distance and didn’t get put down rather than he’d won the fight.

So where does that leave Glen now? He has now lost five (5) of his last nine (9) fights and It’s worth noting that since April 2008, Johnson has had five (5) attempts at two (2) different weight classes to regain a world crown. Personally I think he should retire but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

As for Lucian Bute well there’s only one fight I can think of right now that is going to create the most interest, the winner of the super six final between Andre Ward and Carl Froch. The winner of that fight becomes the WBA and WBC Super Middleweight champion. Lucian would surely relish the chance to add those belts to his own and I think all the fans of Boxing would love to see that to. We may hear about this fight being made for April or May 2012, I hope it does happen because I would pay to see that one.