"Where TALK IS THE TALK"

Untangling the Light Heavyweight Web;

Tarver-Woods and Dawson-Johnson fights will bring Clarity

By: Phil Santos – Overhandright.com

 March 21, 2008

On April 12^th four of the top six Light Heavyweights in the world, as rated by the Ring Magazine, will be in action against one another.  In addition to the three World Titles that will be placed on the line that night will be a shot for the winners to catapult themselves into position to challenge the current Ring Champion, Bernard Hopkins.  Clinton Woods, the IBF Champion, will face off against IBO title holder Antonio Tarver in the nights Co-Feature and Chad Dawson, the WBC Champion, will battle grizzled veteran and former World Champion Glen Johnson in the Main Event.

 Three of these four combatants are no strangers to each other.  Glen Johnson and Clinton Woods have fought three times with each man winning once and one match ending in a Draw.  Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson have clashed twice resulting in a decision win for Johnson in their first match followed by a decision victory for Tarver in the rematch.  Their career parallels don’t end there.  Both Johnson and Tarver have suffered defeats at the hands of Bernard Hopkins.  Johnson lost to Hopkins in 1997 while vying for the IBF Middleweight championship and Tarver dropped a lopsided decision in 2006.  Both Tarver and Johnson hold career defining wins over the great Roy Jones while Clinton Woods was knocked in the 6^th round during his bout with Jones in 2002.

 The wildcard in these two match-ups, the one relatively untested fighter at least by comparison, is Chad Dawson.  Dawson cannot claim to have the experience that Tarver, Woods or his opponent Glen Johnson possesses.  He has not gone to war with another of the elite fighters within the division or notched a career defining win.  He does, however, have an opportunity to do something that none of the others can hope to.  At 26 years old and already a World Champion Chad Dawson has the potential to rule the division for the next decade.  A victory over a well respected veteran in Glen Johnson would certainly be a step toward asserting himself as a viable heir to the throne now occupied by B-Hop and once ruled by Roy Jones Jr.

 The once barren division is now brimming with talent.  The question is what does the future hold?  What if Glen Johnson manages to derail Chad Dawson?  Is there another young stud at 175 with the ability of overthrowing the veteran crop that has held the division hostage for so long?  Is Zsolt Erdei that man, or perhaps Adrian Diaconu?  Or will we witness a meteoric reemergence of a Roy Jones Jr. return to title contention?  These are all questions that a Dawson loss would bring to the forefront.    

 The Predictions:

 Antonio Tarver vs. Clinton Woods

 Since losing his highly anticipated bout with Bernard Hopkins, Antonio Tarver has scored wins over Elvir Muriqi and Danny Santiago.  His win over Muriqi was much more difficult than expected and his knockout of Santiago was the result of Tarver taking advantage of a completely overmatched opponent.  I scored both of these fights from ringside and while Tarver looked in great shape he has begun to show his 39 years of age.  He beat Santiago soundly but showed from the outset that he had no respect for him or his power and proceeded to stop him with relative ease.  As for Muriqi, Tarver was testes for all 12 rounds and barely managed to squeak out a Majority Decision.  He fought well only in spurts and took far too many rounds off against an opponent who most figured he could handle without much difficulty.  Tarver is 4-2 (1) over his last six fights with his losses coming to Glen Johnson and Bernard Hopkins.

 Clinton Woods has put together a solid win streak since losing to Glen Johnson in 2004.  He has posted wins over Julio Cesar Gonzalez twice, Glen Johnson and he handed Rico Hoye his first defeat by knocking him out in 5 rounds.  Woods seems to be fighting as well as he ever has right now and for that matter what better time to face Tarver.  While Woods is no youngster himself at 35 yet he appears to be the fresher fighter at this point in their careers.  Woods is 6-0 (3) over his last six fights.

 I expect a tactical fight with neither fighter willing to put themselves in a dangerous position.  Clinton Woods should be able to take Tarver into the later rounds and eventually wear him down.  Tarver has a good chin and I don’t expect Woods to stop him but I do expect him to box his way to a decision win.

 Clinton Woods by Majority Decision over Antonio Tarver

 Chad Dawson vs. Glen Johnson

 What Chad Dawson lacks in experience he makes up for with lightning quick hands, good power and excellent technical skills.  Wins over Eric Harding and Tomasz Adamek are his most significant to date and in both of those fights Dawson hit the canvas.  He has shown the ability to get up off the mat and pick up the win which may come in handy against the top dogs at Light Heavyweight.  Dawson has an outstanding jab and his knack for stringing together combinations often overwhelm opponents.  Dawson is 6-0 (3) over his last six fights.

 Glen Johnson is the definition of a warrior.  Johnson has fought everyone out there and over the last decade has established himself as a force at 175.  Wins over Jones Jr., Tarver, Woods and Montell Griffin only begin to tell the story of Glen Johnson’s career.  Johnson has suffered through 2, 3 and 4 fight losing streaks only to bounce back stronger and better that ever.  He possesses a relentless style that pressures opponents from start to finish.  Johnson has a sturdy chin having been stopped only once over 60 fights as a pro.  The other key intangible that Johnson brings to the table is his experience in championship or just plain big time fights.  Johnson is 5-1 (3) over his last six fights with his only loss coming to Clinton Woods.

 Clearly Dawson knows his key to victory is to avoid getting caught by anything big and to attack Johnson from the outside while maintaining steady movement.  For Johnson the recipe will be steady aggression and looking to take the fight right to Dawson’s chest.  Johnson’s best chance is fighting on the inside, closing off the ring and forcing Dawson into numerous exchanges.  I see Johnson pressuring Dawson early and scoring well to the body and possibly even hurting him.  As the fight wears on Dawson should settle in against the best fighter he has ever faced and take Johnson apart with his quickness.

 Chad Dawson by Unanimous Decision over Glen Johnson

PS

Jean Pascal Survives Scare; Rising Super Middle remains Unbeaten

By: Phil Santos – Overhandright.com

 Jean Pascal moves to 21-0 (14) by scoring a UD victory over a game Omar Pittman.  The fight began slowly with lots of swings and misses but with Pascal securely in control.  With the exception of an off balance slip up, that could have been scored a knockdown; Pascal was cruising winning the first six rounds with relative ease.  He had Pittman down in the second, courtesy of a sharp left hook, and he overwhelmed his lesser talented opponent with superior speed and movement.

 As the 6^th round neared its conclusion Pascal held out his arms and taunted Pittman to fight, a move he would soon regret.  In the 7^th round Pittman smashed Pascal with a right hand, left hook combo that left him wobbly and doing his best to survive the round.  Luckily for Pascal, Omar Pittman is not a highly skilled fighter and he just couldn’t find a way to finish.  Pascal regained his composure in the 8^th; although he was still shaky, and got back to out boxing the over matched Pittman.

 In studio with ESPN’s Brian Kenney, top rated Super Middleweight, Allan Green gave his take on Jean Pascal stating “Jean Pascal should be locked up for impersonating a fighter”.  Green did have more respect for Miranda saying only that the physically gifted Miranda had improvements to make technically. 

Pantera Back with a Bang; Miranda blasts Banks through the Ropes

The fight began slowly with David Banks doing what he needed to be effective against such a heavy hitter like Edison Miranda.  Banks kept moving, circling to his right, in order to avoid Miranda’s a big right hand.  I saw the 1^st round to be even with neither man scoring very effectively.  No surprise there given the vastly contrasting styles these two brought to the ring. 

 In the 2^nd round Miranda picked up the pace, scoring some hard body shots, and appeared to slow Banks down.  Still the action was scarce and you could actually hear some booing from the crowd.  What was going on here?  Booing at an Edison Miranda fight?  That just doesn’t happen.  This guy is electric, he is a knockout machine.  Was David Banks plan to frustrate Miranda with his speed and technique actually working?

 The answer came in round 3 in the form of a brutal right hand that knocked Banks through the ropes and left him stunned.  Banks struggled to pull himself back into the ring before collapsing back onto the canvas.  He finally managed to get himself to his feet, made it over to his corner but still looked as though he was not all there. 

 Edison Miranda had been written off far too quickly after suffering a loss at the hands of Kelly Pavlik and his come back already includes two stoppages inside of six rounds versus decent opponents.  His tenure at Super Middleweight should be exciting due to the fact that he doesn’t know how to be boring in the ring.  Miranda has the power to knock anyone at Super Middleweight silly, whether his skills and defense will continue to improve sufficiently to compete for a title is yet to be determined.  Regardless Edison Miranda is a fan favorite because he knows how to perform, win or lose this guy is fun to watch. 

PS