IBF light heavyweight champion Glen Johnson met Roy Jones Jr. in the squared circle tonight. Roy was  fighting for the first time since his second round knockout loss to Antonio Tarver four months ago. Tonight was meant to be Roy's night to come back strong and prove to the media and the boxing public he was still the man they remembered before the Tarver meeting. Glen Johnson brought the IBF title into the ring along with dreams of beating Roy Jones and moving on to another big payday.

 

When the bell rang to begin the first round Glen Johnson stormed out of the gate rushing Roy Jones on to the ropes where he began to throw everything he had at Roy Jones. Roy seemed content lying on the ropes, leaning back on what seemed to be very loose ropes, slipping many of Johnson’s punches. Roy threw an occasional punch to Johnson's body and head but they had no effect on Johnson as he continued his oncoming attack. Johnson continued throwing punch after punch until the ten second mark of the round where both fighters moved from the ropes and the bell rang to end the round.

 

Glen Johnson changed his game plan in the second round, being more conservative with his punch output but doing enough to win the round.  Halfway through the third assault, Roy Jones opened up, landing a nice flurry; it had no effect and Johnson kept coming forward backing Jones up. Roy's offensive output dropped again in the fourth round as he simply laid back looking as if he wanted to counter Johnson but never did. Roy often found his back to the ropes, Johnson in front of him throwing punches, some landing, some missing. What Roy failed to do was answer back with punches of his own, simply giving rounds away to Johnson.

 

In the fifth round Johnson landed a hard right to Jones' head that seemed to momentarily stun him. Jones regained his senses and fired five right hands that stopped Johnson’s attack momentarily. Rounds six, seven, and eight seemed almost to be mirror images of each other as Roy simply did very little to keep Johnson from coming forward or even trying to win the rounds. In the middle rounds Johnson had to do very little to win the rounds. He didn't have to take risks to win the rounds he just had to throw punches, punches that were rarely countered by Jones.

 

Roy looked like a fighter who has seen his better days tonight, getting hit with punches he would have easily slipped three years ago. At times Johnson was beating Roy to the punch. This was clearly not the Jones of old. Roy Jones' legs and hand speed simply were not what they once were. Not to sell Johnson short, he had a perfect game plan which he  executed it flawlessly.

 

In the ninth round Johnson's game plan would pay off as he threw a straight hand to Roy's head followed by a left hook that hit him on the shoulder. It was the right hand that put Jones out, the left hook simply helped to push him to the canvas where Roy's head bounced off the canvas twice. Roy laid on the canvas motionless for minutes. Glen Johnson pounded what could be the final nail into Roy Jones' career tonight, scoring a knockout at the: 48 second mark of the ninth round.

 

Potential big pay days and fights for Antonio Tarver and Bernard Hopkins who  wanted Roy Jones again seem gone now, as Roy will most likely retire. After the fight Glen Johnson said "I'm not the best I'm just a guy who is willing to fight the best."

 

Johnson seems to have found the Fountain of Youth, looking more like a fighter in his mid-twenties tonight rather than his mid-thirties. At the time of the stoppage I had the fight scored eight rounds to one for Johnson, giving only the third round to Jones. All three judges  had Johnson ahead on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage, with the scores of 77-75 twice and 78-74. With his win Glen Johnson retains his IBF title and improves his record to 41-9-2 (28 KO's) while Roy Jones suffers his third loss and his second consecutive knockout loss in four months. His record now drops to 49-3 (38 KO's).

 

Questions? Comments? Write Kenny Perrault