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On the other side of the ring is Glen Johnson, a hard luck fighter that finally got the title that he tried to get on many occasions. In February, Johnson bested former Jones KO victim Clinton Woods for the IBF title that Jones was stripped of when he decided to fight John Ruiz for the Heavyweight title and that Tarver gave up to fight Jones. These boxers have taken two distinctly separate paths to the titles they have garnered, but they have much in common in terms of former opponents.
I wasn't even going to make a prediction of this fight because it's not really a big fight and there is a great consensus on who will win, but the way Jones went down in his last fight and the fights that are on the horizon afterwards make this a compelling matchup.
Ring Walk
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Jones, Jr., 49-2 with 38 KOs, had been tabbed for greatness after getting totally robbed in the 1988 Olympics. He turned pro in 1989 to little fanfare, but was still getting televised fights, which displayed his frightening combination of speed and power. As he was considered slightly big for a middleweight (5' 11" with a 74" reach), he had KOed 20 of his first 21 opponents when he fought Bernard Hopkins for the vacant IBF middleweight title in 1993, and despite having a hurt right hand, he went on to win the title, by identical scores of 116-112 on the judges' cards. He then moved up and a year later fought then pound for pound top dog James Toney for the super middleweight title. In a fight Toney was supposed to dominate, Jones came in and clowned Toney, who came into the ring weakened by his battle of the bulge. After that fight, Jones was being hailed as the best pound for pound. In 1996, he moved up to his most dominant weight, 175, and defeated Mike McCallum for the vacant WBC title. But this was short lived as he lost to Montell Griffin by punching Griffin when he took a knee. However, he avenged that by knocking Griffin out in the 1st round in a rematch. After this, many speculate that he took on light competition until he met the left hook of Tarver.
Pre-Fight Instructions
Johnson has fought many top names in his career, which has helped and hurt him in many ways. It helps because he has become known as a road warrior, someone who will fight anyone, anywhere. But it has hurt because that means that he comes into the ring, for the most part, as an opponent being set up to lose. But he has still maintained the course, displaying his heart along the way, and was finally awarded for his effort. Stylistically, he's not known for his power, as he's only KOed 53% of his opponents, and those were mostly against guys who were there to be KOed. He has a pretty good chin; he's only been KOed by Hopkins (11th) and Toks Owoh (6th), and his chin is there to be hit, as demonstrated in his last 2 fights with Woods. He's not really spectacular in any facet of the game, but he's good at everything, which makes him crafty and dangerous. A telling element of his record is that he has fought several guys that Jones has fought, and he's lost or drew to all of them (Hopkins, Sosa, Harmon, and Gonzalez were losses, and the first fight with Woods was a draw) except Eric Harding, which was the fight that propelled him into the title fight with Woods.
Jones' career has always been speculated on, not because of the fighters he's faced, but those that he didn't face (Michael Nunn, Dariusz Michalczewski, Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, Gerald McCellan, Julian Jackson, and Steve Collins, just for starters). But the route he took was to fight guys that beat those guys, so it wasn't necessarily avoidance; you know the saying, the man who beat the man who beat the man and so forth. And an amazing stat is that nearly half of Jones' fights have been world title fights, and in those fights he's 22-2; he has nearly as many title fights, 24, as Johnson has KOs, 27! But regardless of who he's faced, he's done so with a style and finesse that had not been seen for a number of years. He has incredible speed, has carried his power with him up in weight, although there's no doubting that he's lost a little steam on his punches, and has shown in the first Tarver fight that he has the heart to pull a fight out of the fire if needed. But the second fight is what's on everyone's mind. Personally, I'll never forget that punch…both are throwing left hooks and Tarver's gets there first. Jones exhales, face wrinkles, eyes looking away, falls straight back under the ropes. He attempts to get up, but struggles and falls back down. He gets up, beats the count, but is a still a little wobbly. As the ref calls off the fight, a wry grin appears on his face. It'll be interesting to see how he comes out in this fight, especially the way he was talking after the Tarver debacle.
Referee's Instructions
There's no doubt that Jones is less intimidating that he's ever been at any point in his career. Johnson knows this and surely feels that if he comes straight at Jones, maybe he can get him too. It also cannot be denied that there are more questions about Jones' chin than ever before. Jones has been known to say that he like to "chin check” his opponents; now opponents are going to try to chin check Jones. But there should be no questions about Jones' chin, as he's taken some hard shots from many hard punching fighters. He just never saw the left hook from Tarver coming. But nonetheless, boxing is more mental than it is physical; it's impossible to gauge how Jones feels after being KOed for the first time in his career. It's probably best that he got caught early, rather than to have been solidly beaten over a number of rounds and then getting KOed. If the latter had happened, if he were losing a fight, doubt could creep in. But because he won the first round, he can take comfort in the fact that he was doing well.
Johnson has a tough decision to make: he can try to outbox Jones, who's still one of the faster fighters in the world, or he can attack him and see what Jones is made of. With both being about the same size and coming up the same way in terms of weight, Johnson will not have the size advantage, and since speed is power, Jones is probably the harder hitter. His best chance will probably be to attempt to counterpunch with Roy and see how he copes with that. If he can have some success in effectively counterpunching Jones, he'll gain some confidence and will feel more comfortable trading leather if it comes down to that. But he knows that this is the biggest fight in the world and that Jones is the name fighter so it's hard to imagine that he won't give it his best.
The Fight and the Decision
The eyes of the boxing world are squarely focused on Jones and it will almost be as if Johnson is not there. . Will he be gun-shy? Can he really take a punch? Will Tarver be on his mind? How interested in Boxing is Jones really? Frankly, I feel that going up in weight to heavyweight, and then coming back down again has irrevocably hurt Jones physically more than he probably knows or thinks. The evidence of this is that he is somewhat slower than in the fight before Ruiz, his stamina seemed depleted during the first Tarver fight before he summoned his will to win, and that he's never been caught with a shot that knocked him out. He's more ripe for the taking than he's ever been before.
Both men are 35 year old, so this is not a factor. However, Johnson's body has taken more of a pounding over the years. This fight will squarely be decided on how Jones decides to come out. If he comes out tentative and apprehensive, he will have some problems and Johnson will sense this and probably go for the kill. If he comes out too aggressive, Johnson may have some success counterpunching. I respect Glen Johnson a great deal and I truly wish he had gotten to defend his title first at least once before facing Jones. But it's hard to see Jones just surrendering, especially to a fighter that has lost to men Jones has defeated and knocked out.
Jones will come out to first show Johnson that he doesn't even belong in the ring with his by throwing quick punches in an attempt to discourage Johnson. In rounds 2 and 3, after hurting Johnson, he will go for the KO to make a strong statement to not only Tarver, but to the boxing public. But Johnson is no slouch, and will survive the storm and still display his champion's heart. Jones will slow it down in the following rounds, but is still doing some damage to Johnson, who finds Roy just too fast to keep in one place. The fight will come to an end in the 7th round when, after a well placed left hook will stagger Johnson and after taking substantial punishment, the ref will intervene to stop the fight.
Toney v Booker
Tonight on Fox's "Best Damn Sport Show Period", James Toney (67-4-2 with 43 KOs) will take on the 23 year old Rydell Booker (22-0 with 12 KOs). This fight is for the chance to fight Vitali Klitchko; Toney is the #1 contender for the WBC title and it's no doubt that should Booker win, he'll be propelled into that spot. But this is the most experienced fighter Booker has fought and he has just recently moved up to heavyweight, just like Toney. Here's an astounding fact…although Booker stands at 6'2", Toney actually weighs more, even though he's 5'11" (227 to 220). Toney is 10 lbs heavier than he was when he faced Holyfield, while Booker has actually lost weight from his last fight, in which he weighed 229.
There was a little exchange between the two at the weigh in yesterday, so expect the fight to be a little heated as well. If Booker comes at Toney, he'll be playing into Toney's hands, and it's hard to think that the bigger man will attempt to box, as Booker is known to do. With only 12 KOs in 22 fights, it's doubtful that he can seriously hurt Toney. Plus, his best weight is probably cruiserweight, so his conditioning will come into question. There is the question of Toney's Achilles and how that will affect him, but he says it's 100% and with his style of small shifts and creating angles, it is imperative that his ankle is in top form. Assuming that it is, Booker will probably use his jab to probe Toney and see what he has. But the jab is his biggest weapon, and Toney knows what to do to guys like that. Even thought Toney's moniker is "Light's Out", he's not a one punch KO guy at this size, but his sharp counterpunches eventually wear a guy out. Booker finds out how crafty Toney is and a body shot will set up Booker to be KOed in the 8th round as the burden of extra weight will come to haunt him. However, if Toney's Achilles does cause some problems, he can still win with his craftiness, but if he makes it the whole 12 rounds, he'll win via decision.
Please send all questions and comments to crice@catsmpo.com.
