When the final bell rang this past Saturday night in the light heavyweight title clash between Glen Johnson and Tavoris Cloud I had an eerie feeling ? it was as if I had seen this fight before.
And in a way, I had.
The young upstart, the hype, the power, the activity ? and the slow fade in the middle of the fight. The wily veteran taking every opportunity to make a comeback, keeping the fight close ? hell even stunning the favored young buck.
It was Glen Johnson ? Tavoris Cloud but it very easily could have been “The Road Warrior’s” first meeting with “Bad” Chad Dawson in the way the entire affair played out ? right down to the controversial (to Johnson) scorecards.
When the fight ended I had no doubt that Cloud had done enough to win. However, in keeping with tradition Johnson was not convinced that he had been beaten (Johnson has never been convinced he was beaten). It felt very much like the aftermath of Johnson-Dawson I when I was firmly in the corner of “Bad” Chad having done enough to win, even though he didn’t do so convincingly and he didn’t close the show with flair.
What Cloud proved to me on Saturday night against Johnson is that he is in a similar place today that Chad Dawson was in two years ago ? the question now becomes, where does Cloud go from here?
When Dawson beat Johnson the first time there were calls for a rematch (I’m not hearing that as much from this fight), but Dawson went off and took bigger money fights against Antonio Tarver. For Cloud, the calls will now be to get immediately into the ring with Chad Dawson. Where Dawson was faced with a division full of over the hill (or close to over the hill) light heavyweights (Tarver, Johnson, Bernard Hopkins, Clinton Woods), Cloud is trying to make inroads in a division stacked with quality fighters.
This weekend Chad Dawson will attempt to remind everyone why he is considered a pound for pound rated fighter (at least on my list), and the face of the light heavyweight division when he takes on Jean Pascal in Montreal for the vacant RING magazine light heavyweight title. The fact that we’re looking at our second major fight in the light heavyweight division in as many weeks speaks volumes about the condition of the division (which less than two years ago was considered a joke). As SHOWTIME and the super middleweight division draw attention away from the mid-weight classes, and Pacquiao and Mayweather control the mid/lower weight divisions many people have written off the light heavyweights.
But with Dawson, Pascal, Cloud, Johnson, Hopkins and the very interesting Beibut Shumenov in the light heavyweight division ? 175 pounds may be the place to be for the future.
The winner this Saturday will represent the top of the division, and will have their pick of the litter so to speak in terms of opposition. I know there has been a huge push for Cloud-Dawson, and the two do have a bit of a history from the amateur ranks (where it is rumored that Cloud knocked out Dawson in sparring), but I’m still not sure that fight will happen. Whenever someone mentions Dawson-Cloud both fighters seem resigned to the fact that it’s simply not in the cards. Much like Devon Alexander-Timothy Bradley it seems like the type of fight that everyone wants, but nobody can make happen.
I know that Chad Dawson has wanted a fight with Bernard Hopkins for some time, and if B-Hop can’t get someone at heavyweight to fight him there is always a chance that a fight could be made between the two. The problem with that fight is that Dawson has a bit of a stigma attached to him that he’s an old man beater but not a true “champion” who fights the best in his division. I don’t think Dawson could convince anyone that B-Hop deserves a shot at the lineal/RING magazine light heavyweight champion based on the Executioners most recent performances.
A Dawson-Adrian Diaconu, or Dawson-Shumenov fight wouldn’t entice anyone to tune in even if both fights have some intrigue. Which leaves the long anticipated bout between Dawson and Cloud as the only likely outcome. Cloud likely won’t be looking for a rematch with Glen Johnson anytime soon and must realize that a loss to Dawson wouldn’t hurt him, a win over Dawson would catapult his career to a different level and there isn’t a fight in the division that could possibly make him as much money as Dawson would.
The real point of this article is simple ? the light heavyweight division is solid.
With the names at the top of the light heavyweight division, as well as the names in the super middleweight, junior middleweight, welterweight and junior welterweight divisions in boxing you’re looking at five divisions with marketable, young, American superstars.
So how the hell is boxing having any trouble?
Devon Alexander fought on the top of a card with three world title bouts, in his hometown (for the first time in a meaningful fight) and Don King sold 9,000(ish) tickets. Meanwhile, in Oakland the UFC put on essentially what was a throw-away show (though it turned out to be fantastic) and sold over 12,000 tickets.
Huh?
We are literally in a resurgent time for boxing ? and the sport is struggling to find an audience. You still hear people talk about the “good old days” or the time when “boxing was on” all the time. Yet we live in a time where American Olympians are at the top of major divisions, marketable, bright, young stars are around in all of the most interesting divisions in boxing ? and yet people seem like they don’t care. Also I don’t want to hear anyone make the heavyweight argument, because Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns weren’t heavyweights but everyone tuned in to see them.
Obviously television coverage is a problem, and ESPN barely acknowledges boxing even though they televise the sweet science. Honestly you have a better chance seeing little league baseball, WNBA, cycling, X-Games and Nationwide stock car racing on SportsCenter then a world championship boxing match that doesn’t involve Floyd Mayweather Jr.
But beyond that is the problem that people generally don’t think about boxing, and boxing fans do nothing to combat that. We all miss the hayday of boxing, we all wish boxing was on ABC, but the next time someone tells me that boxing isn’t interesting because there just aren’t any stars I’m going to point them to one of the divisions I’ve talked about here ? and tell them to start paying attention.
Honestly folks boxing is in trouble ? with viewers, and television stations, and everything that happens outside of the ring. Inside the ring boxing is in great shape ? it’s just too bad that nobody seems to notice.
