JOHNSON DEFEATS TARVER
WINS BY DECISION

December 19, 2004 - by Anne Vitello

ROUND 1
Glen Johnson starts off busy. He moves straight in behind a jab, body punches follow. Tarver is composed, though not countering right away. This looks like a replay of Johnson's early strategy against Roy Jones. With a minute and a half to go, Tarver is moving better, steering the action toward the center of the ring, and getting his jab off. Magic Man also seems to be biding his time just a bit, watching and timing Johnson. Tarver's left comes slicing across and down. Neither man is injured; it is a generally "feeling out" kind of round, though Glen Johnson did enough to take it.

ROUND 2
Now Tarver holds his ground and pumps multiple jabs at the opening moment of the round. He is connecting on Johnson now, getting some combinations off. Glen Johnson has been slowed down just a notch; he keeps coming but he can't get his punches in clean. He keeps himself well-protected from the left hook. In closer quarters, both men land some good short lefts. Tarver moves backward but keeps his fists in motion. Hard to tell who got the best of whom, as both men found the mark to the body. Antonio Tarver is not about to surrender the fight, or even its pacing, and Glen Johnson is not going to give up too easily.

ROUND 3
Reverting to his original strategy, Glen Johnson pounces, and succeeds with a left hook. Antonio Tarver settles in and comes back: He connects well to the body again, and then with a left upstairs. Glen Johnson plows ahead. Tarver will effectively rack up rounds if he continues to tag and dodge. Most significant punch of the fight thus far seems to be a big left from Tarver. Magic Man is loosening up now, and frustrates Glen Johnson: Tarver flurries then evades, scoring and then preventing Johnson from doing the same. Looks like both men know what their winning strategies can be tonight. Question is who can prevent the other from executing his?

ROUND 4
Tarver is on the ropes much of the time, but that doesn't indicate that he is in any kind of trouble. On the contrary, he is looking confident and perhaps catching his breath from time to time. Glen Johnson goes to work again. Sometimes his punches are partially deflected, but he keeps walking in and slugging away. Tarver is finding more opportunities, somehow. When he chooses to act, he gets more punches off, and lands them cleaner. Though Glen Johnson set out to reclaim some ground in this round, when Antonio made his bid, he made Johnson look sluggish and ineffective. The last punch of the round is a big left from Tarver.

ROUND 5
Tarver is on his toes, moving laterally and backward. Glen Johnson pastes Tarver with a right when an opening becomes available. Johnson now lands a perfect right uppercut on the point of Tarver's chin, and follows up with a sharp body shot. Is Tarver hurt? Glen goes into high gear and the crowd is excited. But there will be no "finishing off" of Antonio Tarver Moments later it is clear that Magic Man is okay, just taking a moment to regroup. However, Glen Johnson has done enough to ensure that the fight is still within his reach. Both men are fighting a very clean, strong and tough battle.

ROUND 6
An accidental head butt opens a small cut to the outside of Glen Johnson's left eye. Now the fight settles down to some real slugging. Tarver is re-asserting himself with a sound counterpunching strategy. If Johnson just keeps coming in, following behind Antonio who is now on his toes, then he will walk into trouble. But Glen's best shot is to keep on as the aggressor. Tarver is making good contact with longer punches now. Johnson is very durable, and if things continue along the same lines, he will have to be.

ROUND 7
Glen Johnson is coming in and Antonio Tarver is alternately moving away, and stopping to fight. Both men are flat-footed now, and Johnson looks comparatively more tired. When Glen is on the ropes, on the receiving end of Tarver's offense, he looks more vulnerable too. Antonio Tarver lands a big, powerful left. And Glen Johnson is still here, still coming. The exchanges are often very even-handed in terms of punches thrown, yet it's as if a tide is turning in the fight. Both men have dug in, and nobody is hurt. But Tarver is landing a bit more, landing cleaner, and looking more energized.

ROUND 8
Tarver is finding the mark with his left; two hard ones land in the first minute. Though the boxers are not bleeding, marked or staggering, they are doing a hell of a job on one another. Glen Johnson walks in behind an old-school peek-a-boo style defense. As well he should. He walked into a storm of punches in the first 2 minutes. Now Tarver takes the countering strategy again, with Johnson chasing. And although Glen comes in with clear intentions and moving fists, it looks like Antonio is timing him better & better, finding the moments to drop in those straight, clean counterpunches.

ROUND 9
Glen Johnson lands a right, Antonio Tarver answers. Johnson sticks a short uppercut inside, Antonio Tarver taps a double jab to Johnson's face. Now Glen plows in, pushing Antonio against the ropes. No sloppy clinching; the boxers regroup, the exchanges continue. For two minutes there is not a remarkable moment for either man. Again, however, Glen follows Antonio, then stops & stands to punch. This will lose the fight for Johnson. Both men are tired, but Glen is more tired. Antonio edges him out of this round, and could very well do so for the last 3 unless Glen can come up with something.

ROUND 10
Tarver moves sideways; he knows what has to be done now. His counterpunching strategy, led by his left, has frustrated Glen Johnson tonight. Antonio appears fairly confident. Johnson does at least come up with the old reliable aggression; that should be worth something. The action has slowed down considerably, as Tarver feels confident enough to take a breather. It is noteworthy that when Antonio Tarver slows down, the fight slows down. For the first couple of minutes, it looks like this is Johnson's round. But Tarver gets busy and closes well. Is it enough? Glen Johnson should know from experience that it is a bad idea to leave anything up to the judges.

ROUND 11
Jabbing at arms-length, Johnson is able to neutralize Tarver's height advantage by making use of his reach advantage. After an extended jabfest, Tarver lands a big left to break the monotony. Glen Johnson reacts by coming after him. Tarver strikes again, and Johnson again comes back with a crunching right hand. And all hell breaks loose. Both men unload whatever they have held in reserve, and at the end of the round it would seem that Glen Johnson has edged out Tarver. Nothing can be certain, however.

ROUND 12
The warriors pick up where they left off. Tarver wants to get that long left in there, and oh boy does he ever. He pounds to the body, at least two or three times in succession. Glen Johnson goes into the championship rounds like a true champion. He is being out punched, but he is not folding up. Instead Johnson sucks it up and then finds something to come back with. It looks, however, like Johnson's offense does not have as many clean-landing power shots. But this is a noble round. What outstanding action! Both men give it every last ounce of energy. Glen Johnson, having absorbed a lot of punishment, literally manages to run after Tarver in the last 10 seconds and flail away to the final moment.

POST-FIGHT COMMENTS:
Though in some peoples' minds he will always be "Gentleman" Glen Johnson, he fought like the "Road Warrior" tonight. Still not willing to call himself the best, Johnson claimed to be still "looking for Mr. Best." Wisely open to a rematch, Johnson was typically mature and respectful in his perspective on the fight and the near future. He chalked up his victory to "heart" and training. Certainly he also benefited by a couple of judges with a unique take on the bout. Nevertheless, there have been stranger decisions, and perhaps Johnson was due, after all, for a questionable one to go in his favor for a change.

Naturally Antonio Tarver did not agree with the decision. His complaints were somewhat restrained, however. No doubt Tarver bears in mind his own distaste for fighters making excuses. He opened a discussion about having hurt his left hand, then cut it short. Tarver has a reasonable gripe, of course. In addition to seemingly landing more, he did a pretty good job in the department of ring generalship tonight. He felt, rightly so, that he dictated the pace. Nevertheless, Glen Johnson was generally more aggressive, and did have some strong moments. It just wasn't Antonio's night, though arguably he did enough to make it his. In the fight game, that's simply the way it goes. The real winners tonight were the fans. These men put on a first-rate, classy performance.