By Cliff Rold

At the end of 2007, this scribe authored a piece here at BoxingScene asking what had gone wrong with the Light Heavyweights.  They were, one year ago, simply dreadful beyond a bout between Chad Johson and Tomasz Adamek early in the year.  The talents were there; the fights weren’t.

2008 made up for it.  From start to finish, big matches and good matches were made, whittled down to a needed final showdown.  Whether Boxing gets it or not will be up to the man who narrowly gets the nod as divisional best of the year.

Light Heavyweight Fighter of the Year: Joe Calzaghe

While the higher profile of his bouts might make Calzaghe an easy choice for some, the quality of the wins wasn’t much better than what first WBC, and now IBF, titlist Chad Dawson did this year.  Dawson’s close, bruising win over Glen Johnson and dominance of Antonio Tarver were both more impressive than beating a Roy Jones well past his time as a serious force.

They were not more impressive than beating Bernard Hopkins for Hopkins’ Ring Magazine belt, especially with the power of hindsight.  There are those who felt Hopkins did enough to beat Calzaghe (though perhaps not as many as thought Johnson beat Dawson) but it’s still tough to see why when reviewing the Hopkins-Calzaghe bout.  Calzaghe is the only man ever to truly take over a Hopkins fight in the second half and while Hopkins landed some hard shots, Calzaghe still doesn’t get enough credit for his own good work from some.  Someone was hitting Hopkins with popping straight lefts to the face and hard right hooks to the body; that someone was even hitting him enough to tire him into looking for low blow calls in lieu of fighting late in the bout.  When Hopkins later in the year dominated a younger (than he or Calzaghe) World Middleweight champion in Kelly Pavlik, it helped put into perspective what Calzaghe had accomplished. 

While the Jones win isn’t as impressive in the ring as on paper, no matter its one-sidedness, it was a nice topper to a long career.  Boxing fans wonder if Calzaghe will retire or continue on; if it is the latter, Calzaghe-Dawson is the only fight with meaning at 175 lbs.  It’s also the one fight left which could truly build Calzaghe’s place in history.  Let’s hope he’s got one more training camp left.

Light Heavyweight Fight of the Year: Chad Dawson-Glen Johnson

The one place Dawson definitely beat out Calzaghe was in aesthetic value of fights, and he did it in one night.  Younger fighters who have something special, something worth looking forward to in the year’s ahead, often have nights like the one Dawson had against Johnson.  They are the nights that make then more than talents; they rough the edges which mark real, tested professionalism.  Regardless of how one scored the fight, Dawson’s survival of Johnson was a victory in itself and the best Light Heavyweight scrap of this or the last few years.  As reported at: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=13480

…the supposed next big thing at light heavyweight, was introduced to real professional boxing for the first time on Saturday. Chad Dawson (26-0, 17 KO), the highly touted 25-year old southpaw fighting out of New Haven, Connecticut escaped with a unanimous decision, but it was the 39-year old Glen Johnson (47-12-2, 32 KO) of Jamaica who stole the hearts and cheers of the crowd in a pitched battle that could have gone either way.

After a tense opening minute, both men showed their wares in the first round.  The southpaw Dawson fought relaxed, flipping more than snapping the jab, mixing in lead lefts to the head and hooks to the body. Johnson responded with two flush lead rights of his own in the final thirty seconds. An exchange just prior to the bell indicated the birth of significant violence.

That indication was delivered upon in rounds two and three. Johnson offered harsh rights but Dawson maintained his up-tempo punch output to carry the second, only for the tide to shift in the third. While Dawson did get out front early, Johnson twice clearly hurt him and had the younger man unsteady at the bell.

Dawson remained in a dazed state through the first two minutes of the fourth.  Johnson seemingly couldn’t miss with short right hands and the occasional left hook.  With few options, Dawson planted his feet and threw in long-armed combination to keep Johnson honest. Dawson opened up at the ten-second mark, just missing full connection on a home run left with Johnson turning away from him.

The back and forth of the first four frames became an all-out assault in the fifth by Johnson. Applying constant pressure, Dawson’s offense became downright defensive, occasional flurries meant for survival rather than significant scoring while Johnson ripped rights to the body and both hands upstairs. Dawson wisely changed tactics in the sixth, using his jab and legs to stay away from Johnson while playing to steal the round with occasional hard pot shots.

Dawson stayed on his bike in the seventh and experienced his clearest success since the opening round. Johnson landed the occasional right but was no match as Dawson threw his jab in combination and rattled him with slamming left hooks.

Johnson came out for the eighth with renewed urgency, throwing his right more often, bringing Dawson off of his toes and into the trenches in the final minute of the round. Dawson, while tired, matched the master infighter blow for blow. The ninth produced similar action, with Johnson driving the action but Dawson outlanding him.

While his corner implored him to “box,” Dawson continued his willingness to wail inside.  It cost him the round and very nearly the fight. A hammering right hook caught Dawson blind at the 50-second mark and the legs of the younger man were Jell-O.  Johnson came forward and landed more harsh rights but Dawson stayed on his feet and smothered the shots with his shoulders when he could. In the closing seconds, Dawson even opened up with his own left hook again.

All-out war is the only way to describe the eleventh. Exhausted and greater resembling the part of a fighter with four decades of legs beneath him, Dawson stood at center ring with Johnson.  It made for solid theatre. Dawson ate a left-right combo in the last half of the round and used Johnson body to steady himself. The old man stalked forward blasting away with more right hands.

With the fight potentially on the table, Johnson appeared to complete a sweep of the final three rounds. Dawson may well have landed more in the final three minutes, but it was Johnson whose leather carried the most effect. A left-right combo at the 1:20 mark was followed by a hard right hand seconds later. Another right hand in the final minute rocked Dawson yet again. Still, the young lion would not give, looking for spots to connect with left hands all the way to the final bell.

After a standing ovation worth fight, the scorecards brought a nasty cascade of boos as all three judges scored the bout 116-112, or eight rounds to four, for Dawson. BoxingScene scored the bout 114-114, but it was clear that Johnson’s six rounds were the more professionally damaging, explaining the reaction of the crowd.

Johnson was incensed by the decision, at one point saying of his professional trade, “It should be abolished.”

Light Heavyweight: The Year in Results

Since last January, BoxingScene has produced quarterly ratings for each of Boxing’s seventeen weight classes.  Ratings for the first quarter of 2009 should be available at the New Year; for now, here’s a look back at the critical Light Heavyweight results of 2008.

First Quarter
01/05: #6 Glen Johnson (42-11-2, 32 KO) TKO8 Hugo Pineda (39-4-1, 28 KO)
01/19: #7 Roy Jones Jr. (52-4, 38 KO) UD12 Felix Trinidad (42-3, 35 KO)
02/23: Yuri Barashian (25-3, 17 KO) TKO8 #8 Thomas Ulrich (31-4, 21 KO)

Second Quarter
04/12: #2 Antonio Tarver (27-4, 19 KO, IBF) UD12 #6 Clinton Woods (41-4-1, 24 KO)
04/12: #4 Chad Dawson (26-0, 17 KO, WBC) UD12 #7 Glen Johnson (47-12-2, 32 KO)
04/19: #9 Andre Diaconu (25-0, 15 KO) UD12 Chris Henry (21-1, 17 KO)
04/19: World Super Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KO, Ring) SD12 #3 Bernard Hopkins (48-5-1, 32 KO, Ring)
04/26: World Champion Zsolt Erdei (29-0, 17 KO, Lineal/WBO) UD12 DeAndrey Abron (15-2, 10 KO)
 
Third Quarter
07/03: #7 Hugo Garay (31-3, 17 KO) UD12 Yuri Barashian (25-4, 17 KO); Vacant WBA title

Fourth Quarter
10/11: #1 Chad Dawson (27-0, 17 KO, IBF) UD12 #8 Antonio Tarver (27-5, 19 KO)
10/18: #5 Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KO) UD12 World Middleweight Champion Kelly Pavlik (34-1, 30 KO, Lineal/Ring/WBC/WBO)
11/8: #2 Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KO, Ring) UD12 #3 Roy Jones Jr. (52-5, 38 KO)
11/11: #6 Glen Johnson (48-12-2, 33 KO) TKO4 Aaron Norwood (26-11-2, 13 KO)
11/22: #7 Hugo Garay (32-3, 17 KO, WBA) UD12 #10 Juergen Braehmer (31-2, 25 KO)

Other divisions in 2008 reviewed:

Check in tomorrow for more of BoxingScene’s 2008 Year in Review.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com