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Jamaica's Johnson loses to American Dawson
Courtney Wallace,
Observer writer
Monday, April 14, 2008
Challenger Glen Johnson (right), connects with a right to the jaw of WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson during the third round of the championship boxing match on Saturday in Tampa, Florida. Dawson won by unanimous decision. (Photo: AP)
Florida, USA - "I don't want to leave it in the hands of the judges 'cause every time I do that it just don't work out." That's a famous quote from light heavyweight boxer Glen Johnson in referral to the many times that he has gone into a boxer's backyard and has been beaten under questionable circumstances.
Well with that firmly in the back of his mind, the Clarendon born went into battle against an undefeated 25-year-old American champion with the sole aim to wrestle the World Boxing Council (WBC) away from this young buck, Chad Dawson.
Dawson entered the fight with a record of 25 wins, no losses with 17 KOs. Thus Glen Johnson was a clear step up in class and at a whopping 39 years old it was always going to be interesting to see what kind of a strategy he would employ against a wily, hard-hitting pressure veteran who by all accounts had had his best training camp ever, was sharp and made weight well inside the limit.
The fight was the opener of a Showtime network double header featuring the four best light heavies in the world and would naturally pit the winners in a big money unification. So the stakes were high, especially for Johnson.
Dawson started the fight the busier, preferring to stay on the outside using his southpaw jab as a rangefinder and seemed to have landed a few blows to Johnson, who was obviously not off to the vicious body assault that he's renowned and the story remained the same over the first two rounds which clearly Dawson did enough to win.
Round three saw Johnson coming into his own and applying pressure shots to the head, countering all attempts by Dawson to be aggressive. In fact, Dawson was so hurt the canvas was waiting with open arms. This activity got the crowd active and Johnson treated them to his trademark hands folded pose.
In round four, Dawson landed an uppercut but Johnson hit right back with one of his own then proceeded to head hunt again forcing Dawson to opt for the outside. It was now turning into an excellent fight.
Johnson became the aggressor in round five with left right, right left combinations to the head, which was surprising to this reporter as the plan going in was to attack the body. Dawson, however, seemed to have done his homework and kept distance not allowing Glen on the inside.
At the end of round six blood was evident in Dawson's mouth which resulted from the pounding he was taking from the head shots. It must have dawned on the young American that this was going to be no easy walk in the park and he got on his 'bicycle' and 'sped' away. For the rest of the middle rounds he back pedalled constantly, forcing Johnson to have to look for him every time he needed to hit.
Of course Johnson is a come forward fighter and he pressed the action right into the championship rounds, landing bomb uppercuts and left right combos when he got the chance.
It was indeed interesting to see a 25-year-old running from a man with 39 years to his name.
Dawson also tried to land combinations, but those were all picked off by the defence of the veteran.
Enter the championship rounds and Dawson came forward, however, he was met by hard head bombs that had him in trouble, he was badly hurt and clinched against the ropes forcing the referee to pull them apart.
Sensing he had the momentum Johnson then pressed the action even more and again had Dawson in trouble as the crowd rose to its feet to honour top notch fighting.
At the sound of the final bell the St Pete Times Forum erupted into shouts of Johnson, Johnson prompting Dawson to raise his hands - bad mistake - the boos possibly could be heard in Osbourne Store through to May Pen in Jamaica.
Then came the shocking moment, I'm sure one of the worst in boxing history, ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr rang out the scores 116-112 on all three cards, all for the winner by unanimous decision - and the eruption in the Forum hit violent proportions - and still there was no way they could have given the fight to Dawson and the crowd expressed its disappointment in no uncertain manner.
The Showtime commentators weren't impressed either, the journalists were livid and there was hardly a soul in the building who agreed.
After the fight Showtime did a text in poll asking: Which fighter tonight was most impressive? Eighty per cent of all voters said Johnson with the other three splitting 20 per cent leaving them all in single digits.
At the post-fight press conference the disgust was clear:
Johnson's promoter Leon Margules said: "For Chad not to be a tarnished fighter he should grant a rematch to the people's champion."
Johnson added: "Chad fought a good fight, take nothing away from him, he tried his best to throw a few punches, but as you can see I'm still clean, I'm still handsome, no cuts, no scars, that shows that the punches he was throwing were not landing and if they were, where is the damage? That doesn't say much about his power, look at him, you can see he's bruised up even wearing dark glasses at night. I won the fight, the people thought I won. I fight to please the people as they pay the bills, if they want the rematch we should give it to them."
Promoter Lou Dibella noted: "This wasn't a one-side fight. Chad did what he could, but we have a 39-year-old champion here, you heard what the crowd thought of the fight and you saw the poll results, 39 years old he deserves a rematch."
Added Gary Shaw, Dawson's promoter: "We are all making a mistake here. We say Glen is 39, his birth certificate might say he is 39, but he is a 29-year-old warrior, and if I have anything to do with it, I will be vocal for him he is among the top light heavyweights in the world."
Dawson himself was subdued for a fighter who just won a championship and spent 10 seconds at the podium.
Courtney Wallace,
Observer writer
Monday, April 14, 2008
Challenger Glen Johnson (right), connects with a right to the jaw of WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson during the third round of the championship boxing match on Saturday in Tampa, Florida. Dawson won by unanimous decision. (Photo: AP)
Florida, USA - "I don't want to leave it in the hands of the judges 'cause every time I do that it just don't work out." That's a famous quote from light heavyweight boxer Glen Johnson in referral to the many times that he has gone into a boxer's backyard and has been beaten under questionable circumstances.
Well with that firmly in the back of his mind, the Clarendon born went into battle against an undefeated 25-year-old American champion with the sole aim to wrestle the World Boxing Council (WBC) away from this young buck, Chad Dawson.
Dawson entered the fight with a record of 25 wins, no losses with 17 KOs. Thus Glen Johnson was a clear step up in class and at a whopping 39 years old it was always going to be interesting to see what kind of a strategy he would employ against a wily, hard-hitting pressure veteran who by all accounts had had his best training camp ever, was sharp and made weight well inside the limit.
The fight was the opener of a Showtime network double header featuring the four best light heavies in the world and would naturally pit the winners in a big money unification. So the stakes were high, especially for Johnson.
Dawson started the fight the busier, preferring to stay on the outside using his southpaw jab as a rangefinder and seemed to have landed a few blows to Johnson, who was obviously not off to the vicious body assault that he's renowned and the story remained the same over the first two rounds which clearly Dawson did enough to win.
Round three saw Johnson coming into his own and applying pressure shots to the head, countering all attempts by Dawson to be aggressive. In fact, Dawson was so hurt the canvas was waiting with open arms. This activity got the crowd active and Johnson treated them to his trademark hands folded pose.
In round four, Dawson landed an uppercut but Johnson hit right back with one of his own then proceeded to head hunt again forcing Dawson to opt for the outside. It was now turning into an excellent fight.
Johnson became the aggressor in round five with left right, right left combinations to the head, which was surprising to this reporter as the plan going in was to attack the body. Dawson, however, seemed to have done his homework and kept distance not allowing Glen on the inside.
At the end of round six blood was evident in Dawson's mouth which resulted from the pounding he was taking from the head shots. It must have dawned on the young American that this was going to be no easy walk in the park and he got on his 'bicycle' and 'sped' away. For the rest of the middle rounds he back pedalled constantly, forcing Johnson to have to look for him every time he needed to hit.
Of course Johnson is a come forward fighter and he pressed the action right into the championship rounds, landing bomb uppercuts and left right combos when he got the chance.
It was indeed interesting to see a 25-year-old running from a man with 39 years to his name.
Dawson also tried to land combinations, but those were all picked off by the defence of the veteran.
Enter the championship rounds and Dawson came forward, however, he was met by hard head bombs that had him in trouble, he was badly hurt and clinched against the ropes forcing the referee to pull them apart.
Sensing he had the momentum Johnson then pressed the action even more and again had Dawson in trouble as the crowd rose to its feet to honour top notch fighting.
At the sound of the final bell the St Pete Times Forum erupted into shouts of Johnson, Johnson prompting Dawson to raise his hands - bad mistake - the boos possibly could be heard in Osbourne Store through to May Pen in Jamaica.
Then came the shocking moment, I'm sure one of the worst in boxing history, ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr rang out the scores 116-112 on all three cards, all for the winner by unanimous decision - and the eruption in the Forum hit violent proportions - and still there was no way they could have given the fight to Dawson and the crowd expressed its disappointment in no uncertain manner.
The Showtime commentators weren't impressed either, the journalists were livid and there was hardly a soul in the building who agreed.
After the fight Showtime did a text in poll asking: Which fighter tonight was most impressive? Eighty per cent of all voters said Johnson with the other three splitting 20 per cent leaving them all in single digits.
At the post-fight press conference the disgust was clear:
Johnson's promoter Leon Margules said: "For Chad not to be a tarnished fighter he should grant a rematch to the people's champion."
Johnson added: "Chad fought a good fight, take nothing away from him, he tried his best to throw a few punches, but as you can see I'm still clean, I'm still handsome, no cuts, no scars, that shows that the punches he was throwing were not landing and if they were, where is the damage? That doesn't say much about his power, look at him, you can see he's bruised up even wearing dark glasses at night. I won the fight, the people thought I won. I fight to please the people as they pay the bills, if they want the rematch we should give it to them."
Promoter Lou Dibella noted: "This wasn't a one-side fight. Chad did what he could, but we have a 39-year-old champion here, you heard what the crowd thought of the fight and you saw the poll results, 39 years old he deserves a rematch."
Added Gary Shaw, Dawson's promoter: "We are all making a mistake here. We say Glen is 39, his birth certificate might say he is 39, but he is a 29-year-old warrior, and if I have anything to do with it, I will be vocal for him he is among the top light heavyweights in the world."
Dawson himself was subdued for a fighter who just won a championship and spent 10 seconds at the podium.
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