His name might not sound familiar to many casual boxing fans, but for hardcore boxing fans, Glen Johnson had been one of the better fighters in his generation.
He didn't start out his career on fire, but Johnson was like fine wine, he got better with age and had most of his success in the latter years of his career. He was never one of the elite fighters, but he was one of those fighters like Joshua Clottey and Carlos Baldomir, who had enough skill and toughness to beat anyone at any given time. In fact, two of his wins came against Roy Jones Jr. and Antonio Tarver. Not only that, there are a number of people who believed that Calzaghe avoided him like a plague.
Now he is replacing Mikkel Kessler in the Super World Boxing Classic and will fight Allan Green on November 6. With Johnson getting up in age and losing two of his last three fights, this tournament is probably his last chance at glory and to make a decent amount of money, which is probably why he accepted the invitation.
However, this could be a dangerous career move as well since he will need to move down in weight, which is not easy for a fighter his age. He was already having a difficult time making the weight at the light heavy weight division and seemed dehydrated during his last fight against Tavaris Cloud.
As a result, a move to the super middleweight division can spell disaster because of the physical toll that his body might have to endure. It's not only dehydration that he has to worry about, but the potential affects of losing a significant amount of muscle mass in relation to his reflexes, speed and power.
Remember what happened to Roy Jones Jr. and Chris Byrd, two fighters who decided to move down from the heavyweight division to the light heavyweight division? Chris Byrd suffered a devastating loss to a mediocre fighter in Shaun George and Roy Jones Jr. suffered three consecutive devastating losses after an unimpressive win against Antonio Tarver.
Roy Jones was considered the top pound for pound fighter at the time, but turned into a mere contender in a matter of months as he was never able to regain the reflexes and speed that he once had. Most of the time, the body will need a significant time to adjust from a drastic loss in muscle mass.
Glen Johnson should probably take a minor tune up fight before his fight with Green in order to see how his body reacts to the move down in weight. If not, he might find himself on the short end of the stick in the fight against Green or even worse, suffer a career ending injury.
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