By Cliff Rold
Chad Dawson looks like the heir apparent at Light Heavyweight, but he hasn’t made apparent yet whether he can decisively beat Glen Johnson.
It’s going to be fun finding out whether he can.
As discussed earlier this week by BoxingScene’s Jake Donovan, 175 lbs. is a division which can be fun for a while to come as its face begins to change. There are two takes on the division right now. The negative take is that Dawson is stuck in a division where most of the top names (names being the operative word) are long in the tooth. His chances to grow are limited because of this.
That’s the lazy take. Obsession with name value doesn’t account for the sooner than one would think possibility of great aesthetic value with still relative unknowns.
As noted by Jake, and also recently by Ring’s Eric Raskin and Showtime’s Steve Farhood, there is a slowly growing base of young talent in class. Dawson is the leader, the most proven, but real tests are likely to come from fighters like Tavoris Cloud and Jean Pascal. If a year from now both of those men are still, and they should be, winning then the argument won’t be a lack of opponents.
It will be why is Dawson still messing with these old men?
Johnson is not a normal old man of course. If anything, he’s become younger with age. Proof that sometimes losing can make a fighter better, Johnson faced some of the best from 160 to 175, giving good showings, occasionally losing under auspicious circumstances.
Then, he started winning. He’s mostly won since a controversial 2003 loss to Julio Gonzalez. He’s lost without dispute only once in that time, in a rematch versus Antonio Tarver in 2005. Many felt he deserved the nod against Dawson last year. Can he sip from youth’s fountain one more time?
Let’s go to the report card.
The Ledgers
Chad Dawson
Age: 26
Title: None
Previous Titles: IBF Light Heavyweight (2008-09; 1 Defense); WBC Light Heavyweight (2007-08, 3 Defenses)
Height: 6’3
Weight: 175 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights: 174 lbs.
Hails from: New Haven, Connecticut
Record: 28-0, 17 KO
Record in Title Fights: 6-0, 2 KO
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated: 4 (Carl Daniels, Tomasz Adamek, Glen Johnson, Antonio Tarver)
Vs.
Glen Johnson
Age: 40
Title: None
Previous Titles: Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight (2004-05); IBF Light Heavyweight (2004, 1 Defense)
Height: 5’11
Weight: 173 ½ lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights: 174 ¾ lbs.
Hails from: Clarendon, Jamaica
Record: 49-12-2, 33 KO
Record in Championship Fights: 3-5-1, 1 KO
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated: 4 (Clinton Woods, Roy Jones, Antonio Tarver, Montell Griffin)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat: 7 (Bernard Hopkins, Sven Ottke, Silvio Branco, Julio Gonzalez, Antonio Tarver, Clinton Woods, Chad Dawson)
Pre-Fight Grades
Speed - Dawson A; Johnson B
Power – Dawson B; Johnson B+
Defense – Dawson B+; Johnson B
Intangibles – Dawson A; Johnson A
The first bout between these two was a battle of impressions. As noted in the post fight report card in April 2008:
Tell me again which was the 39, and which the 25, year old man when Dawson faced Glen Johnson (47-12-2, 32 KO)? I scored the bout a draw but over the last six rounds, it was Johnson whose punches had snap, it was Johnson whose legs were fresh, and it was Johnson seizing the initiative. It looked like he deserved at least a draw and, if liberally scoring the fifth or tenth 10-8, could easily have won the fight. They both won rounds; the difference was that Dawson got thumped in the rounds he lost.
Johnson’s post-fight tirade against the officiating merits more consideration as well. He did not unanimously sweep the last two rounds on all three cards in another example of judges who are more impressed by amateur flurries than professional bombs. For shame; it was an honorable display from an underappreciated warrior in Johnson who stands out as one of the better late peaking fighters ever. He deserves a rematch.
And now he’s got it.
Since their first contest on April 12 last year, each man has fought twice. Dawson had two wins over former divisional titan Antonio Tarver, the second one tougher than the first. Johnson has stayed busy with Aaron Norwood and Daniel Judah (avenging an old draw which should have been a win). The older man faced less notable fare but was well preserved in the wins and showed no lost step.
Dawson was drawn into a war with Johnson the first time and has a penchant for it in general. Despite great speed and reach advantages in most of his fights, Dawson seems to get almost bored with scientific dominance. He allows himself to get into fights with lapses of concentration…which frankly is better for viewers.
It wouldn’t be better for him if he were beaten by Johnson on Saturday. Dawson should be reviewing the second Tarver-Johnson bout for a blueprint to victory. Tarver lost to Johnson by fighting his fight too often the first time; in the rematch, he stayed in motion and kept his hands moving, forcing Johnson to set and then reset constantly. If Dawson doesn’t engage, if he just boxes and steps out, he can make this an easier night.
If he can’t, he’ll remember quickly what most of the division has known for a while. Johnson just doesn’t allow many easy nights. Dawson could do everything right and still have trouble because Johnson is hard to hit, never stops coming forward, and will have the confidence of knowing he can hurt Dawson. His jab is educated and disruptive even if it isn’t fast, and Johnson might have the best chin in the game. Even when stopped by Hopkins in 1997, it was a mercy call to end a bludgeoning.
Dawson does not have the same sort of chin. He’s been down against the light hitting Eric Harding and the heavy handed Tomasz Adamek. To his credit, intestinal fortitude kicks in where his beard does not. He doesn’t want to test those reserves too often though.
Johnson can be expected to bring everything he has left. The ultimate road warrior is everything anyone could want in a fighter. He’ll fighter wherever, whoever, and when he gets the shaft he might complain but he just gets back in line and keeps plugging for another shot. It takes real character, a man’s man, to have taken some of the setbacks Johnson has and still stay on his game.
The Pick
Before getting to the pick, a quick note is due on the title situation. This should be for a major recognized belt but isn’t because Dawson has given those up to make marquee fights. Good for him. The IBO belt will be on the line and its merits can be debated. What matters here is that the two best Light Heavyweights who have actually fought rated Light Heavyweights in the last couple years (thus excluding Hopkins) are locking horns. The WBC will recognize the winner as interim champ. It should, but who knows if it will, mean a 2010 contest with whoever holds the regular WBC belt in 2010. An anticipated rematch between Pascal and Adrian Diaconu later this year will decide that. Hope for a winner’s showdown.
Boxing needs an early Fight of the Year possibility to start the New Year.
While Johnson is a sentimental favorite, Dawson has seen what he has and has the youth, and athleticism, to learn from precious mistakes. While he slipped a bit in the Tarver rematch, it was a product of a better Tarver and a too easy win the first time. Johnson put him through hell and he knows it. It should make him sharper and he’ll have the benefit of the previous experience. Johnson will make it interesting in spots but look for Dawson to box more, box smarter, and win a clear decision on Saturday night.
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
