Road Warrior Glen Johnson Wins Comeback in Dominican Republic
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Correspondent
Glen Johnson is 44 years old, and still the road warrior on the road. The venues in his 72 bout career were all over the United States, with side trips to Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. Now,boxing fans can add the Dominican Republic to the list. The ‘Road Warrior’ , a Jamaican fighting out of Miami, is obviously still fighting and not retired, perhaps bidding for a shot at Bernard Hopkins, Tavoris Cloud, Adonis Stevenson, Nathan Cleverly, Beibut Shumenov, Cedric Agnew, Denis Grachev, Eleider Alvarez, Anthony Dirrell or who knows?
On April 19, 2013, Johnson, now 52-18-2, 36 knockouts, scored a second round stoppage of Junior Ramos, now 18-8, six knockouts La Romana, Dominican Republic, after knocking down Ramos in the first round. Ramos weighed 180 pounds, Ramos 177, meaning the bout was fought by Johnson at cruiserweight.
Future wise, the major issue with Johnson is always fighting up. WIn lose, or draw, Glen Johnson has always fought the best in the light heavyweight division and will always continue to do so. The test of the division will always withstand the test of time because he always fights the best fighters out there. In which case, the decision outcomes of Johnson’s fights are of little relevance, because it is impossible to gauge hoe many times ‘The Road Warrior’ has been robbed, but rest assured, bad decisions were aplenty. Not the time he knocked out Roy Jones Jr. and decisioned Antonio Tarver.
Johnson, a former USBA, WBC Continental Americas and International Boxing Federation Light Heavyweight champion, has been in 13 world championship bouts. It still appears Johnson, who is younger than Bernard Hopkins, still has the boxing itch. At 44, however, knockout power will be of keener advantage to Johnson than technical boxing skill, which top notch younger boxers can use to try to outpoint him at this stage in the game. Much like his knockout of Allan Green, to win at this point, Johnson has to be able to work his opponents over at close range and knock them out to take the fight away from the scorecards. If Johnson’s younger talented challengers jab him and keep him on the outside and don’t let him get inside, Johnson cannot win rounds and will look more like a sparring partner such as he did in his 12 round affair with Lucian Bute.
Another idea would be for Glen Johnson to move up to cruiserweight, win a few bouts at the higher weight, and then try his luck against Denis Lebedev, Yoan Pablo Hernandez, Marco Huck, Krzystof Wlodarczyk, Danny Green and Guillermo Jones.
This would be a better move for Johnson, whose presence in the light heavyweight division at this point is tired now. If Johnson is as ageless as Bernard Hopkins, moving up in weight and taking his game to the next level should be considered.
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