By Tom Donelson
The key to the Tarver victory came in the very first round. Two events unfolded, the first was the jab Tarver used and his movement to form an invisible border between himself and Johnson. The second was that unlike his past two fights, Johnson did not jump all over his opponent. Glen Johnson allowed Tarver the space needed and in the opening rounds, Tarver set the pace. Using movement and his jab, he threw punches in bunches as he controlled Johnson. Johnson's own output diminished in comparison to the first fight. Tarver's offensive outburst forced Johnson in the opening rounds to cover up. Glen Johnson found himself on his heel and unable to mount any consistent offensive outburst.
In the second half of the fight, Johnson closed the gap in the scoring but he could never gather true momentum. Tarver’s cornerman, Buddy McGirt, told his fighter not to take a step back and many times, Tarver's offensive outbursts and movement forward forced Johnson to retreat. Johnson's own corner knew that only a knock out could save the championship and in the last minute of the eleventh round, Johnson put together one last offensive outburst. He repeatedly had Tarver on the rope and landed clubbing right hands that hurt the challenger. As the eleventh ended, Tarver changed tactics one more time. In the final round, Tarver would volley and hold. He never allowed Johnson the opportunity for any more offensive outbursts. Tarver's smothering style of fighting allowed him to take the last round.
In rematches, good fighters adapt and learn from their mistakes. Tarver did not use all his gifts in their first fight and in key moments, allowed Johnson to take the momentum. In their rematch, Tarver changed tactics repeatedly depending upon the situation. In the opening rounds, he threw his straight left behind his right jab and on occasion, unleashed his right hook from a southpaw stance. Tarver averaged over 70 punches per round and his foot movement kept Johnson from jumping on him.
As he got tired in the second half of the fight, he changed tactics once again. He moved forward on occasion and pressured Johnson. The one aspect that did not change was the punch output as he continued to throw punches. In the Winky Wright-Felix Trinidad fight, Jim Lampley observed that Wright did not always commit with power on the many punches he threw. Tarver used the same strategy as Wright. Many of his punches were designed to score and keep Johnson offbalance. The soft volley disguised the occasional hard left that started to swell Johnson’s face.
In the final round, Tarver smothered Johnson. Johnson could not take advantage of the same opportunities that opened up in the last minute of the eleventh round. Tarver and his corner came up with the right game plan and Tarver used all of his talent to utmost peak of perfection. Tarver showed in this fight that he has the skills to adjust his game and he did.
Now for both Tarver and Johnson, the question is what’s next? These two men are the best light heavyweights in the world and the best option it seems is a Tarver-Johnson III. I don’t see Tarver fighting as a heavyweight and the cruiserweights is not where the money is, despite the quality of the fighters.
Of course, the question that remains for both camps, what adjustments need to be made in a Tarver-Johnson III. As a fighter, Johnson does not have the same skills that will allow him to pursue a different strategy but within his ability, he can still adjust. What Johnson failed to do in this fight was to jab his way into Tarver's chest and in the opening rounds, he chased Tarver as opposed to cutting the ring in half. He can’t depend upon Tarver tiring himself out as Tarver demonstrated that he had the conditioning to fight every minute of every round for the entire duration of the fight. Johnson has to wear Tarver out and that means he has to cut the ring off early and bang shots to the body. He has to average at least 60-65 punches per round in order to punch with Tarver.
As for Tarver, he discovered that Johnson has a tough chin and won’t easily go down. Tarver nailed Johnson with several good shots flush but Johnson kept coming. He needs to jab and throw combinations just as he did in their second fight. He can adjust within the fight and this skill gives him the edge in a third bout, but he can’t allow Johnson to get inside his jab. He needs to set the pace early and win the early rounds, thus forcing Johnson to open up in the late rounds and make mistakes. A rematch would be an interesting because both fighters know each other well enough to know that they can’t knock the other out. Johnson needs a war of attrition in order to keep the match close. Tarver needs to out punch Johnson by a wide margin and secure an edge to ensure the decision to go his way. Tarver showed his superstar skills in the rematch, unless Johnson corrects his mistakes from the second meeting, the third bout will end with another decision win for Antonio Tarver.
