By Johnny Ortiz
This Saturday night, December 18, HBO will televise a twelve round fight from the Staples Center in Los Angeles between former WBC and former IBF Light heavyweight champions, Antonio Tarver and Glenoffe Johnson. When Antonio refused to face his WBC #1 mandatory challenger Paul Briggs, he did not wait to be stripped of his WBC world title, he chose instead to relinquish the crown; Johnson did likewise in refusing to face his #1 IBF challenger Rico Hoye. Antonio and Glen both discarded their titles in order to face one another in a much more lucrative, appealing bout.
Boxing is in a rather sad state when two governing bodies cannot step aside and allow two reigning champions to unify two titles in their respective division.
Regardless, whoever is declared the winner Saturday night will more than likely be considered the People's Light Heavyweight Champion.
That brings me to the fight. First off, I cannot see Glenoffe Johnson beating the 4-1 betting favorite Antonio Tarver. Glen started his fistic career by posting 32 straight wins before running into the best middleweight of his time, Bernard Hopkins. "The Executioner" stopped Johnson in the 11th round; the fight took place on July 20, 1997. Although it is no shame to lose to Bernard, Glen lost his next two fights to Merqui Sosa and Joseph Kiwanuka. After fighting most of his early fights at the middleweight limit, Glen moved up to super middleweight in 1999 where he lost in his bid to challenge Sven Ottke for his IBF title. In 2000, he would lose his next three fights to Syd Vanderpool, Silvio Branco and Omar Sheika. In 2002, Glen started the year losing to Derrick Harmon in Vegas.
Now campaigning as a light heavyweight, Johnson lost a ten round decision on January 24, 2003 to Julio "Down by the Schoolyard" Gonzalez. Some thought the fight had a controversial ending, I was there that night; I thought Julio won the fight by two points. After fighting Johnson's inside fight most of the night, Julio then intelligently decided to fight him from the outside where he immediately took over the fight, Julio had Johnson on the verge of a KO when the fight ended. After Julio, Glen drew with Daniel Judah, won a big decision fight against Eric Harding, then closed out the year by drawing with Clinton Woods. He opened the year 2004 big time by beating the same Clinton Woods over 12 rounds. Then came the big KO upset over the 7-1 favorite, Roy Jones Jr. In beating Roy Jones, Glenoffe beat the best pound for pound fighter of his generation. I'm sorry, but the Roy Jones he beat that night was in no way the same, great fighter that was Roy Jones Jr. The damage to the chin had already been done in the second Tarver fight. In my sincere opinion, Roy Jones at his best, not only would not have lost a round, but would have stopped Johnson.
Nevertheless, some of the things Glen did in the Jones fight, he has to do in his fight with Tarver. Knowing that Antonio has been known to be a slow starter, Glen has to come out the same way he did against Roy, he has to put constant pressure on Tarver from the opening bell. Then again, by doing this, he may well put himself in range of Antonio's power shots. If Glen can cope with Antonio's big punches while being relentless with his aggressiveness, combined with a huge punch output, he will give himself a chance to win. He has to make Tarver fight going backwards; not allowing him to get off fast combinations and not letting him plant his feet for power shots.
Antonio Tarver is a fighter who has finally come into his own. He has fought all of his professional fights at the light heavyweight limit; he is in a comfort zone. Antonio turned pro at the late age of 28. In the 1996 Olympics, he won a bronze medal. He won his first three fights in the tournament before losing a decision to the gold medal winner Vassili Jirov. Tarver has an outstanding record of 22 wins, 2 losses w/18 KO's. The first of his two losses came at the hands of Eric Harding. Fighting with a broken jaw received early in the fight, Tarver fought bravely on, finishing on his feet at the end of ten rounds. Antonio KO'd Harding in the fifth round of their rematch. The other loss of course, came in the first Roy Jones Jr. fight. The fight was even after ten rounds, Tarver apparently believing he had the fight in the bag, allowed Roy to steam roll right by him in the remaining two rounds. Jones won the last two rounds big, guaranteeing him the win. Of his two losses, both were avenged by KO's.
Antonio is the harder puncher of the two, Johnson, the busier fighter. Tarver must control the fight with his educated left jab. He must start faster in this fight if he is to confuse Johnson who will be trying to offset Antonio's superior boxing ability by trying to turn the fight into a brawl.
Anyway you look at it, Glenoffe Johnson (41 wins, 9 losses, 2 draws w/28 KO's) has a monumental task in front of him, Tarver is far and away the class of the division, barring an injury or a complete breakdown, I look for Antonio Tarver to handle Glenoffe Johnson. If he looks for the openings behind his terrific boxing, Tarver might even be able to stop Glen in the later rounds. It boils down to a fight between a pretty much complete fighter going in against a rugged fighter who is very courageous and doesn't know the word quit. They say that styles make fights, if true, Saturday night's main event will be a fight worth watching. Tarver, a boxer-puncher, will pit his will against a very strong, swarming fighter in Johnson. In the final analysis, Antonio Tarver is just too good and too slick for the likes of Glenoffe Johnson. If you are looking for a terrific fight, this one has all the makings. One thing for sure, the winner will go on to much bigger things while the loser will have go to back to the drawing board.
The semi main event is the fight I am looking forward to watching. Julio Gonzalez, like a lot of the young fighters I have mentioned in past articles, has been a co-host on my radio show "Ringside La with Johnny Ortiz" many times. We take great pride in having spotted their championship talents early on before most people knew who they were.
I was told today that in lieu of the professional debut of gold medal winner Andre Ward, the Julio Gonzalez-David Telesco fight would not be televised unless there are early KO's in the two live fights HBO plan to show. Last Saturday night's fight between WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko and Danny Williams will open the telecast in its entirety. Being that the winner of Gonzalez-Telesco fight could conceivably fight the winner of Tarver-Johnson, I would think it would be more appropriate for the avid fight fan to see. I guess the powers that be, think Andre Ward's four round pro debut is more important that showcasing hometown hero Julio, a former WBO light heavyweight champion who was the first man to beat Darius Michalzewski and holds a win over the man in the main event Glenoffe Johnson.
To illustrate just how screwed up some of these governing bodies are, the WBA has Michalzewski as their No. 1 mandatory challenger, Darius lost a unanimous decision and his WBO title to Julio in his backyard of Hamburg, Germany, yet he is No. 1 while his conqueror, Julio Gonzalez is ranked No. 13. I wish the WBA would explain that one to me.
The Gonzalez-Telesco fight figures to be very good fight, we here in Los Angeles are well aware of the fistic talents of Julio, who in his first important fight, went the distance with Roy Jones, who at the time, was considered the best pound for pound fighter in the game. Julio was young and inexperienced, he was not ready for the likes of the great Roy Jones Jr., but putting on such a heroic display of bravado, he endeared himself to all of the Latino fans who watched the fight, Julio also won the hearts of every fight fan here in Los Angeles and the world over. After their fight, Roy Jones said that "Julio Gonzalez would one day be a world champion" his prophesy became a reality.
In David Telesco, Julio will find a willing adversary. David is a former world title challenger who gave Roy Jones a very tough fight before losing a decision in 2000. Telesco is considered a very dangerous KO puncher, of his 29 wins; he has stopped his opposition 24 times. He has only lost 4 fights and one draw on his record. This fight has all the looks of a real shootout, these are two fighters who can box and punch. Outside of Roy Jones, I have never picked against Julio, he will win a very hard fought fight. Being that Julio and David are explosive punchers, this fight has KO written all over it, if that is to be the outcome Julio's my man.
A great middleweight fight is on tap on the undercard; undefeated, young Tarvis Simms (19-0, 11KO's) will meet a tough customer in Carlos Bojorquez (23-5-6, w/19 KO's). Tarvis would like to join his brother, WBA 154 pound interim champion Travis as a world champion in 2005. Tavis is a southpaw that can bang with both hands. In Carlos, he will be facing a durable seven-year veteran who comes to fight. I think this is a good fight for Bojorquez, although Tarvis is unbeaten, his ledger doesn't have any big names on it. Carlos could conceivably be catching him at the right time. Bojorquez retired Pernell Whitaker so we know he can beat a superior boxer, if Carlos can take the best the young Simms has to offer he will beat him. It is a good fight on a good card.
In Andre Ward's pro debut, the 2004 Athens Olympic gold medal winner is fighting someone by the name of Christopher Molina. I have never seen Christopher fight, so it's hard to make a fair assessment of his talent. I'm sure Ward isn't going to be fighting someone he can't beat in his pro debut. He looks like the winner.
Heavyweights Vinny Maddalone vs. Ronnie Smith, Jr. welterweights Daniel Cervantes vs. Juan Alfonso Figueroa and Mia St. John vs. Lisa Lewis, lightweights, round out an intriguing fight night at the Staples Center.
Klitschko-Williams Recap:
My four predictions concerning last Saturday night's card proved to be right. I picked Vitali to KO Williams, Cotto to KO Bailey, Famoso Hernandez to beat Ramirez and Carlos Navarro to beat Sanchez. In the Navarro fight, I said that I didn't know how much Sanchez had left, if Navarro could overcome the huge experience factor that favored Sanchez, he would win, he could and he did.
Vitali Klitschko is the premier heavyweight champion; there is not a doubt in my mind that he would emerge victorious over the other three champions. His total destruction of Danny Williams came as no surprise to me. Vitali is just too strong, too big and too powerful for most of the heavyweights fighting today.
James "Lights Out" Toney is the WBC No.1 mandatory for Vitali. It would be a tough fight for the big Ukrainian, not to mention the most profitable. One thing for sure, I would give James a much better chance of beating Vitali Klitschko that I would the other three champions.
UNTIL THE NEXT ROUND…PEACE AND GOD BLESS!
