By Rick Reeno

It was only a few months ago that Glen Johnson was an unknown commodity in the Boxing world. Johnson's name was whispered in some circles when he was briefly mentioned as a sacrificial lamb opponent for undefeated super middleweight Joe Calzaghe, who was planning to move up to the light heavyweight division.

Due to an injury on the part of Calzaghe and several postponements, the bout between Calzaghe and Johnson never came off.  Johnson has gone from a guy who was looked at as a stepping stone to a guy who opponents look at as a legit challenge.  Johnson has Antonio Tarver, Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe calling him out for big money showdowns.

As soon as Johnson scored the biggest win of his career when he knocked out Roy Jones Jr., Antonio Tarver demanded a match immediately. Tarver may be the only man angrier then Bernard Hopkins over the Johnson KO of Jones as Johnson's big win cost Tarver millions. Tarver was set to meet Jones in a third meeting after the Johnson bout, Johnson made sure that the third meeting was a just something Tarver would dream about in his head. Hopkins lost out on several million as well, Jones had already stated prior to the Johnson bout that he was willing to move down to 168 in order to make a long awaited rematch with Hopkins happen.

Glen Johnson, coming into his bout with Roy Jones, had lost 9 times. Johnson even had a three fight losing streak in 97-98 and a four fight losing streak not too long after in 99-2000. Johnson dropped decisions to Omar Sheika, Syd Vanderpool, Merqui Sosa, Joseph Kiwanuka, Sven Ottke, Silvio Branco, Derrick Harmon, Julio Cesar Gonzalez and got knocked out by Bernard Hopkins. Johnson also had draws with Clinton Woods and Zab's brother, Daniel Judah. Several of these men were either decisioned or knocked out by Roy Jones, it was easy to see how the Jones camp saw this fight as an easy win. Going by his record, it was easy to see how the camp of Joe Calzaghe saw Johnson as a stepping stone into the light heavyweight division. 

Despite all of Johnson's shortcomings, the man went on to dominate a fighter who was called the greatest fighter of the last ten years and had been on the top spot of several respected pound for pound lists worldwide. Unlike Tarver's KO win over Jones, Johnson dominated for several rounds and then knocked Jones out cold. Jones was on the ground for several minutes following the Johnson loss and went to the hospital by ambulance. Does this sound like the work of a light hitting journeyman or a late blooming superstar?

Johnson has shown to everyone that if you don't give up and keep on trying, good things can happen. Many others would have either retired or shown no will to win after so many shortcomings. Johnson is now a wanted man by several of the big names in the game. Could Johnson be one of those guys who got better with age or could this all be a hallucination by way of Johnson beating an over the hill Roy Jones? Was Jones so shot that any fighter could of beat him that night or did Johnson finally step up his game in this late stage of his career?

Johnson still has many questions, let's hope that in his next fight, he provides the much needed answers.