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By Cliff Rold - He doesn’t have to win the tournament to be its champion.
He doesn’t have to win another fight at all to earn the right to be called ‘champ.’
There is no denying that the Showtime “Super Six” Super Middleweight tournament needed a credibility boost when WBC titlist Mikkel Kessler exited with an eye injury over the summer. It needed credibility steroids when former Olympian Andre Dirrell dropped out after him with a claim of lingering concussion affects.
Despite losses in two of his last three contests, former Ring Magazine and IBF Light Heavyweight champion Glen Johnson (50-14-2, 34 KO) the “Road Warrior” was just the boost the field needed.
When Kessler exited, suggestions of leaping straight to the semi-finals, and losing three full contests, abounded. Given a weak performance from the second round replacement for Jermain Taylor, Allan Green (29-2, 20 KO), against WBA titlist Andre Ward earlier this year, skipping straight to a final four didn’t sound all bad to many.
Johnson’s willingness to come back to a 168 lb. class he has not competed in since 2000 sounds better any way it is sliced. At 41, Johnson may be getting past it but he’s something else too.
Look at the resumes of each of the men left in the Super Six, at Green, Ward (22-0, 13 KO), Arthur Abraham (31-1, 25 KO), or Carl Froch (26-1, 20 KO). Johnson, given the combination of skills, experience, and accomplishment he still brings to bear, can make a case on paper as the toughest assignment any of these men have had to date. [Click Here To Read More]
He doesn’t have to win another fight at all to earn the right to be called ‘champ.’
There is no denying that the Showtime “Super Six” Super Middleweight tournament needed a credibility boost when WBC titlist Mikkel Kessler exited with an eye injury over the summer. It needed credibility steroids when former Olympian Andre Dirrell dropped out after him with a claim of lingering concussion affects.
Despite losses in two of his last three contests, former Ring Magazine and IBF Light Heavyweight champion Glen Johnson (50-14-2, 34 KO) the “Road Warrior” was just the boost the field needed.
When Kessler exited, suggestions of leaping straight to the semi-finals, and losing three full contests, abounded. Given a weak performance from the second round replacement for Jermain Taylor, Allan Green (29-2, 20 KO), against WBA titlist Andre Ward earlier this year, skipping straight to a final four didn’t sound all bad to many.
Johnson’s willingness to come back to a 168 lb. class he has not competed in since 2000 sounds better any way it is sliced. At 41, Johnson may be getting past it but he’s something else too.
Look at the resumes of each of the men left in the Super Six, at Green, Ward (22-0, 13 KO), Arthur Abraham (31-1, 25 KO), or Carl Froch (26-1, 20 KO). Johnson, given the combination of skills, experience, and accomplishment he still brings to bear, can make a case on paper as the toughest assignment any of these men have had to date. [Click Here To Read More]
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