By Jim Dower: Two-time light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (28-0, 17 KO’s) and Glen Johnson (49-12-2, 33 KO’s) will be going at it once again this fall in a fight that will be shown nationally on HBO for American audiences. Dawson, 26, previously fought the 40-year-old Johnson last year in April, beating him by a close 12-round unanimous decision at the St. Pete’s Forum, in Tampa, Florida.
The bout was an exciting one in which both fighters took turns trading shots. Dawson build up an early lead in the 1st half of the bout, but then slackened off in the last part of the fight enabling Johnson to come back and make it a close affair. Some boxing experts felt that Johnson should have been given the nod in the final decision.
However, Dawson was the World Boxing Council light heavyweight champion at the time, and it generally takes a conclusive performance by a challenger for them to get the decision. In this case, Johnson gave away far too many rounds in the first half (all six on my card) for him to be considered the winner in the fight. Dawson appeared to win at least three of the final six rounds, which would make it impossible for Johnson to have won the fight unless he was being given mercy rounds due to his age.
This time, there won’t be a title on the line as Dawson recently vacated his International Boxing Federation light heavyweight title after he wasn’t given a chance by the IBF to make an optional title defense against Johnson. If Dawson had decided to keep his IBF title, he would have been forced to defend his title against number #1 IBF contender Tavoris Cloud, a little known fighter who has faced mostly easy competition in his short pro career.
The fight wouldn’t have been shown on HBO, who didn’t want to show the fight because of Cloud’s unknown status as a fighter, and Dawson would have made less money for the fight in comparison to what he would make in fighting Johnson.
More importantly, the boxing community has been after Dawson since last year about giving Johnson a rematch. Unfortunately, Dawson got caught in a rematch clause after being Antonio Tarver to capture his IBF light heavyweight title in October 2008. Dawson was then forced to fight a rematch with Tarver in May, beating him about as bad as Dawson had in the first fight.
Johnson, a former IBF light heavyweight champion from 2004 to 2006, is a pressure fighter with excellent power who tends to wear down his opponents. Johnson holds a 9th knockout victory over Roy Jones Jr. in September 2004. Johnson would later lose his IBF title to Clinton Woods in a 12-round split decision in 2006.
Although Johnson is getting up there in age at 40, he looks and fights like a fighter at least 10 years younger than his chronological age. Johnson is ranked #3 in the IBF, and will likely be getting a shot at the winner of the Cloud vs. Woods fight in the near future.
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