Glen Johnson (left) with long-time trainer Orlando Cuellar after a training session in Miami. At right is sparring partner Daniel Judah. - Photo by Gordon Williams
MIAMI, Florida:
It's steaming inside the Thump Fight Club. The huge black fan at the centre of the gym hums loud and hard. The rear door is wide open. But everybody here, it seems, is taking a breather.
Except one.
Jamaican Glen Johnson is busy inside the ring, shadowboxing with taped-up hands. Dodging, ducking, slipping to both sides.
In one corner of the gym, boxers half Johnson's age lean back, absorbing the fan's breeze. They are done. In another, some huddle to chat. It's too hot to start.
But Johnson can't relax. Tupac Shakur's All Eyes On Me pounds from a speaker as he squeezes between the ring ropes and plops down on the floor, cranking out sit-ups. Then push-ups. One handed, then two.
After a couple decades in the ring, he knows the drill. No one needs to push Johnson, who will fight for the World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight title on November 7 in the United States.
"Glen's motivation?" his trainer Orlando Cuellar asks with an incredulous look. "No, no ... He knows exactly what he's gotta do. If anything, I gotta tell him 'Glen, you know, cut back. We don't need this, it's too much'; because he has a tendency to go at it."
UPSET
Johnson's next opponent will be Chad Dawson. When the two last met a year and a half ago in Tampa, Florida, three judges awarded the American a unanimous decision in the WBC title bout. The arena erupted in boos. Johnson was furious. He talked about being robbed. Again.
"I did hurt him so badly," Johnson said, "and he still won the fight."
For 'Gentleman Glen' it's time to exact revenge. There is no let-up.
"When he hits the bag, it's his opponent in the heavy bag," said Cuellar. "When he shadowboxes, he hits the air hard. When he's running, he runs hard. He does everything like if the opponent was in front of him."
The huge gap in the fighters' ages will make no difference.
"I believe I've gotten better," said Johnson, a veteran of 63 professional fights (49 wins, 12 losses and two draws).
" ... Right now I'm at the best stage of my career and I'm 40 years old. But I still have the young 21 and 25-year-olds running away from me. And you'll see on November 7; I'm fighting a guy who is 27 years old, and you can take a look, and everyone can make up their mind when they look and see the two men in the ring, which one of them look like 27 and which one of them look like 40 at the end of the day."
HOMETOWN EDGE
The rematch will be in Dawson's backyard of Hartford, Connecticut.
If Clarendon-born Johnson, also called the 'Road Warrior' for his willingness to fight anywhere, thought he got a raw deal in his adopted US state, he can expect no favours on Dawson's turf. So Johnson's aim is to eliminate the judges' role, like he's done 33 times before.
"A knockout is definitely the ideal situation," he said. "That is a big part of what we would like to do. But at the same time, we're not going to just solely hang out hats on just a knockout because that can take you away from doing what you need to do consistently throughout the fight to stay in the fight, and also to get a knockout."
The claim of the world's best in the 175-pound division is on the line. Dawson, still undefeated with a record of 28-0, first shied away from committing to a rematch. But the boxing public demanded next month's clash. An international television audience will get a chance to judge. Johnson understands the stakes.
"I always feel the fight that I'm going in is the most important fight of my career," said the fighter who usually wears Jamaica's colours into the ring. "Simple. Because if you don't do well in this fight, you don't move on to anything else."
In May, Dawson relinquished his International Boxing Federation (IBF) belt to fight Johnson. He wants to erase the Jamaican's haunting shadow.
"I don't want him thinking in any way he won the last fight," Dawson told Boxing Press this month. "I want to put that last fight out of his mind once and for all."
Dawson expects no surprises, but Johnson has added a few wrinkles.
American Daniel Judah, who Johnson has fought twice, drawing and winning, was chosen as a sparring partner. He is similar in style and body to Dawson. The rangy southpaw was brought in to familiarise Johnson to Dawson's speed and awkward left-hander's stance.
Judah, who has known Dawson for years, favours Johnson.
"He's damn sure good," said Judah. "... The thing about it is, he's got that drive to win the world title."
LAST SHOT
Realistically, Dawson represents Johnson's last shot to deliver that crown. The rematch consumes him.
"It certainly can be if I don't go out there and win this fight," he said. " ... I have no intention of losing the fight, neither am I looking past it to anything else. I'm totally involved with this fight."
By fight time, said Cuellar, Johnson will have cleared over 100 rounds sparring. He may push for 120. Trainer and boxer agree that, at best, Johnson may have a couple more years in the ring. A world title would bring big prize-money fights. Either way, the former IBF champion and Ring Magazine's 2004 'World Fighter of the Year' won't return to his old job as a carpenter.
"I'm comfortable and I have some game plans in mind that I have all intentions of doing outside boxing," said Johnson, who has done broadcast boxing commentary.
"But carpenter work is not one of them."
Johnson is showered and dressed as he moves towards the gym's back door. It's still sweltering hot at Thump. But in the dead of November's winter, it promises to be even hotter in Hartford.