Glen Johnson: career

Glen Johnson is a professional league boxer from Jamaica who performed in the first heavyweight division. He was the light heavyweight champion of the IBF in 2004. During his career he had 77 fights, including 54 wins, 21 losses and 2 draws.

Glen Johnson - biography

He was born on January 2 in 1969 in the city of Clarendon, Jamaica. He started boxing from the age of 16. Stubborn and exhausting training did not go in vain - the guy began to win in various amateur tournaments of urban and national scale. In 1993, Glen Johnson made his professional debut in boxing. Jamaican "Road Warrior" (the nickname of the boxer) did not know the defeats and for 4 years distributed his opponents knockouts to the right and left. Specialists say that at the beginning of his career, Johnson had mostly weak rivals who, according to the classics of the genre, were losing. Thus, young and promising Jamaican boxer Glen Johnson increased his experience and replenished his statistics with another victory.

In February 1997, Glen went to the American boxer Sam Garra, who previously did not know the defeats and had on his account statistics in 20 wins and 0 defeats. During the battle rivals struck each other crushing blows and demonstrated a motivated and aggressive duel. Nevertheless, the young Jamaican was stronger and came out victorious. This was the first significant victory, after which the boxer was treated with respect and respect.

The band of victories briefly interrupted

In July 1997, a duel took place with the current IBF middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins. "Road Warrior" still did not know the defeats, his statistics was already 32-0. To this duel was the maximum interest from spectators and fans. Of course, in the ring there are two world professionals - the world champion and unbreakable Glen Johnson. During the battle, Bernard Hopkins dominated . In the 11th round by decision of the referee, the match was stopped - Johnson received a technical knockout, and with him the first defeat in his career. It is worth noting that this was the only early defeat of the Jamaica in his entire career.

After the first defeat, both the second and the third followed. After Hopkins, "Road Warrior" met in the ring with the Dominican Marquee Sosa and Ugandan Joseph Kivang. In these confrontations, Johnson lost on points.

After a 3-time series of defeats, Glen managed to rehabilitate himself. In April 1999, he defeated the American Troy Watson in the battle for the title of continental champion of America by the WBC version. It would seem that the "Road Warrior" has returned to his rut, but there it was. In November 1999, Johnson met with the German boxer and IBF champion in the 2nd middleweight category Sven Ottake (boxer statistics: 16 wins and 0 losses). Yamaets lost on points, but in this battle there were many controversial decisions. The fact is that the match was held in Germany, but it is very difficult to overcome the German, and even with the German referees.

After the fiasco in the battle with Ottake, the Jamaican lost three more fights in a row. This time on his way were such professionals as Canadian Sidu Wenderuplu (27 wins and 1 loss), Italian Silvio Branco (38 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses) and American Omar Sheika (19 wins and 1 loss).

Transition to the light heavyweight category

In 2001, Glen Johnson decides to throw himself a new challenge and move to light heavyweight. And here it was even more difficult. The debut in the new weight category was a real test for the Jamaican boxer. In July 2001, Johnson confidently defeats the German boxer Thomas Wilrich (20 wins and 0 losses) by knockout. Then there were two misfires - a loss to Derrick Harmon in April 2002 and Julio Cesar Gonzalez in January 2003. Six months later, Glen met in the ring with Eric Harding. The battle was almost equal, but Johnson still managed to win the victory.

IBF World Heavyweight Champion

In November 2003, Johnson had a good chance to compete for the IBF title. This time, his rival was the British boxer Clinton Woods. The battle was hard and equal, so in the course of the referee's decision, a no-man's verdict was handed down. After the fight, rivals began to negotiate a re-fight. In February 2004, the second duel for the IBF Champion title took place. Re-entering the ring was equally difficult, but Glen managed to snatch victory and win the first vacant world title in his career.

The legendary battle against Roy Jones Jr.

After the triumph in the battle for the IBF title, Glen Johnson's career took off just to the skies. World tabloids and the media began to increasingly devote their topics to the new champion. Soon the world boxing community is looking forward to the duel of the century - Roy Jones Jr. against Glen Johnson. This time the Jamaican had to defend his champion title, but was considered a clear outsider against the American king in light heavyweight.

September 25, 2004 this long-awaited match took place. Forecasts bookmakers boiled down to the American victory in the ratio 1: 5. Apparently this was motivated by Glen Johnson, because he clearly did not agree with this circumstance. As a result, the "Road Warrior" managed to impose his boxing on the ex-world champion and knocked him out in the 9th round. Spectators and fans did not expect such a sharp turn of circumstances - Glen defended his status.

After 3 months, the next fight took place. It was a battle for the title of champion in the IBO version and The Ring in light heavyweight title against Antonio Tarver. The match was equal, but Glen during the last rounds was able to conduct a series of successful attacks, thanks to which he scored additional balls and was declared the winner. In 2004, Jamaica was recognized as the best boxer of the year by The Ring magazine.

Further career

After several years at the height of his fame, Johnson's career once again declined. In 2005, he lost the same Trever in the rematch, and in 2006 he lost to the well-known Clinton Woods. In subsequent years in the career of "Road Warrior", of course, there were victories, but they were diluted by a series of defeats and draws. He met with such boxers as Chad Dawson and Tavoris Cloud (undisputed leaders of the division), however, despite the fact that he lost, looked worthy. In 2010, Glen announced his retirement from the boxing world, but a year later he returned. The last battle took place in August 2015 against the Turkish boxer Avni Yildirim. The duel was for the world title under the WBC International Silver version, and Glen had a good chance to win, but the opponent was stronger.

Undoubtedly, Glen Johnson is a professional in world boxing, who left a mark on his history. Nevertheless, his protracted career went only at a loss to his rating and status. In the period from 2010 to 2015, Johnson held 14 fights, among which 8 times lost and won 6 times.

Interesting fact: the Jamaican boxer has a well-known namesake - it's football player Stoke City Glen Johnson (photo above).