By Cliff Rold
24-year old Super Middleweight Marcus Johnson (19-0, 14 KO) of Houston, Texas, is no stranger to victory. The 2004 U.S. National Amateur Light Heavyweight Champion picked up his latest duke in the pro ranks and took a step towards contention with a hard fought ten round unanimous decision over a fellow undefeated talent, 30 year old Derek Edwards (25-1, 13 KO) of Winston-Salem, North Carolina at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois on Friday night.
Johnson and Edwards weighed in spot on the division limit at 168 lbs.
Both men fired hard jabs at the start, Johnson quickly following with snapping lead left hooks to the head and body. A countering jab at center ring knocked Edwards off balance and a lead right moments later landed square to the face. Johnson stayed a step ahead, letting Edwards bull him to the ropes and countering with a left hook to move the action back to center ring. Johnson missed with a big right but the jab stayed accurate down the stretch of the opening frame.
The jab was piston like in its repetitiveness to start the second, Edwards opting to initiate a clinch and slow the pace. Jabbing and circling to his left, Edwards went to his back foot, attempting to lure Johnson in. A left uppercut missed but the following right landed for Edwards and both slipped jabs before another Edwards right grazed past the face of Johnson. Johnson ripped two to the body in close but, after a broken clinch, a Johnson left hook seemed to briefly stun Edwards. They traded in close in the final seconds of an increasingly intriguing chess match.
Johnson landed more of the cleaner blows in the third but found Edwards harder to find in general while Edwards continued to just miss with the right over his jab. An exchange of jabs favored Edwards early in round four as he continued getting closer with the right. A straight left left landed off the ropes just past the minute mark for Edwards and he connected with a counter right as he slid underneath a muffled left hook from Johnson seconds after. A left hook from Edwards, and an assist from the ring logo paint, nearly sent Johnson down late in the round as Edwards appeared to clearly get on the scoreboard.
Johnson came out aggressively in the fifth, landing his jab only to taste some lead leather from a responding Edwards. A left uppercut was blocked but blinded Johnson enough to open him for a right hand. Johnson replied with a left hook. Both men deflected power blows as they circled near the ropes, Edwards with his back to the strands but not on them. An Edwards counter right landed, forcing Johnson to go downstairs with a booming right to the body. Johnson closed with a hard right in the closing seconds to the head, followed with each man going to the flanks before the bell.
Edwards slipped rights and lefts to start the sixth but couldn’t avoid the jab. Johnson used the stick to create room for a stinging right near a neutral corner and kept his hands moving against a too cute, and too inactive, Edwards. Edwards opened up with a combination halfway through but it was mostly token offense as Johnson controlled the flow, a right nailing Edwards late.
A spirited seventh saw both men land hard shots, Edwards perhaps outworking Johnson even as the Texas-based battler laced in a hammering right near the close. Johnson demanded the advantage in the eighth, blasting with lead lefts and whipping Edwards head backwards with a straight right. Jabbing, viciously going to the belly, Johnson’s pressure had Edwards in retreat until the final thirty seconds when he went successfully to the body. Johnson was unimpressed, answering with a hard left hook and another right.
Johnson boxed well enough in the ninth to stymie Johnson’s offense if not win the round and it wasn’t long into the tenth and final round that both men were ripping shots in close. It was a brief explosion followed by a clinch and then some nasty rights from Johnson. Just past the midway mark, another Johnson right fired Edwards up and started another exchange. Johnson got the best of it and Edwards was wobbly with exhaustion as the final minute began. Exhaustion did not mean done, Edwards still firing and he closed the round chasing as Johnson scooted away towards what would ultimately be winning scores of 98-92 twice and 97-93.
The referee was Genaro Rodriguez.
Johnson entered the night rated tenth by the WBC and could enter the WBO ratings having won their NABO belt by defeating Edwards. The current WBC titlist is Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler (43-2, 32 KO), a participant in the ongoing “Super Six” World Boxing Classic tournament. Johnson just may be ready for whoever holds that belt when the tournament ends sometime in 2011. Edwards’s performance, even in defeat, was solid enough to merit attention as he continues.
Johnson-Edwards was the last of three Super Middleweight battles televised from Chicago, all of them ending with undefeated prospects who remained so.
In a fiery outing, 25-year old hometown favorite Don George (20-0, 17 KO), 167, scored a seventh round knockdown to secure a ruggedly earned unanimous decision in eight rounds over 29-year old Osumanu Adama (17-2, 13 KO) of Ghana. The referee was Gerald Scott.
The televised opener would be the most one-sided affair of the night, 24-year old Edwin Rodriguez (15-0, 11 KO), 169, of Worchester, Massachusetts, dominating a game but overmatched 30-year old Kevin Engel (17-3, 14 KO), 170, of St. Louis, Missouri. Rodriguez worked Engel over to the body to secure a sixth round technical knockout at 2:35. The referee was John O’Brien.
The broadcast was carried in the U.S. on premium cable outlet Showtime as part of its ShoBox series, promoted by Sauerland Events. The televised broadcast was the last for Showtime commentator Nick Charles as he continues his grueling battle with cancer. BoxingScene wishes him recovery and all the best with thanks for the great work he’s provided the sport and its fans for years.
Come out fighting Nick.
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
