Perhaps Glen Johnson's best attempt at head-games during the buildup to Saturday night's 175-pound rematch with IBO titlist Chad Dawson is his refusal to admit defeat.The facts are that Johnson was not only judged the loser of their first light heavyweight clash in April of 2008 by scores of 116-112 on all three cards, but that the decision was rendered before a partisan crowd in Miami -- not far from the native Jamaican's current home in Hollywood, Fla.
But Johnson's insistence that he was "robbed" clearly rankles Dawson's promoter, Gary Shaw, and if nothing else, has Dawson so chagrined that he has vowed to turn up the heat when they face off at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., near the champion's hometown of New Haven.
"My beef with Glen is that he keeps calling it a robbery, but when you lose on all of the judges' cards by three and four rounds, in your home state, and in your home town, I don't see that as a robbery," said Shaw.
"So my beef is, instead of diminishing Chad Dawson by saying 'it's a robbery,' just say that 'I fought a very good fighter on that night. I believe that I won. I don't believe the judges saw it the way I saw it and I'd like another shot at Chad Dawson,'" said Shaw.
"Johnson's getting another shot because that's the fight that HBO was willing to pay for," said Shaw of a clash that is also for the WBC's interim title. "But don't diminish Chad Dawson by saying you were robbed."
Known as "The Road Warrior" for his reputation of fighting anyone, anywhere and anytime, as well as for his rugged in-your-face style, Johnson can become the oldest man to win a version of the light heavyweight title with a win over Dawson (28-0, 17 knockouts).
At 40 years and 319 days old, Johnson (49-12-2, 33 KOs) could surpass Bob Fitzimmons, who decisioned George Gardner over 20 rounds on Nov. 25, 1903, at 40 years and 193 days.
"I do think, though, that this is going to be a lot like the first fight except that they're going to mix it up earlier," said Doug Fischer, managing editor of RingTV.com. "It's going to be a back and forth kind of intense boxing match featuring some firey exchanges -- but probably more boxing than standing and trading."
Johnson believes he can outwork the talented, 27-year-old southpaw, against whom he fell behind early in their first meeting before coming on, late in the fight, even hurting Dawson but being unable to finish him.
"Johnson landed some clean shots, particularly in the second half of that fight directly to the exposed jaw of Dawson. And although it wobbled and rocked Dawson a little bit, Dawson was able to take it," said Fischer.
"Johnson did catch a lot of Dawson's punches on his gloves and forearms. The problem is, judges count that a lot of times, even though they shouldn't," said Fischer. "In Johnson's case, it's because he walks in a straight line and he's straight up, and there's not a lot of upperbody movement."
Johnson was named the 2004 Fighter of the Year after a decision over Clinton Woods, a ninth-round knockout of Roy Jones, and a split decision over Antonio Tarver.
Johnson was unbeaten at 32-0 in July of 1997, when he was knocked out for the only time in his career by Bernard Hopkins in the 11th round.
Although Dawson believes that he can earn a repeat decision by being the busier fighter, he stopped short of predicting a victory by knockout.
"I'm not a knockout puncher. I'm not going in there looking for the knockout. I will keep out-boxing you. I will out-point you. That's what got me to 28-0, so why would I want to change that?" said Dawson. "The first fight I did what I had to do. I stacked up the rounds. It's like any fighter," said Dawson. "You get hit, you want to hit back. But my whole goal for this fight is to hit and not to be hit. Stick and move."
Still, Johnson insists that Dawson was wrongly rewarded for landing punches against his peek-a-boo defense, believing he successfully blocked a majority of the champion's shots.
"Chad Dawson moves a lot and just tried to throw punches at my defense," said Johnson, who has since won two straight, knocking out Aaron Norwood in four rounds last November before decisioning Daniel Judah over 10 rounds in February.
"My understanding is that boxing is supposed to be judged on clean and effective punching," Johnson said. "If something has changed, someone needs to tell me."
Johnson's defense notwithstanding, the older man will need to mount a more effective offensive strategy in order to lift the crown from Dawson before what is certain to be a crowd that favors the younger man.
"Looking at some of the rounds from the first fight, when Chad is getting off with his jab, Johnson is not jabbing. Even though some of those jabs aren't hitting Johnson directly in the face, they're hitting his gloves," said Fischer.
"The impression for the judges is often that he's being outhutstled and-or out-pointed by the younger, faster fighter, so he can't allow that to happen so much as he was in the first fight," said Fisher.
"In the end, though, I think that Dawson's a little more seasoned now -- smart enough to know that he can contain Johnson with his lateral movement and with the angles that he can give him on the inside."
FanHouse is in agreement, so the pick here is Dawson, by decision.
