the surface, former two-time light-heavyweight champion Glengoffe Johnson?s recent four-round knockout win over on Jaime Velasquez looks impressive. Johnson is, after all, 45 ? only a few years younger than his fellow light-heavyweight Methuselah, Bernard Hopkins. And Velasquez came into the fight with a half-decent record of 11 wins and five losses, with six of his victories coming via the short route.
But let?s not hasten to put Johnson in the same class as Hopkins ? who, by the way, is the only fighter ever to stop the durable Glengoffe, back when the two were young middleweights. True, Johnson?s victory over Velasquez was by knockout, while it?s been so long since Hopkins has kayoed an opponent that fans have forgotten why he was nicknamed ?The Executioner.? But Hopkins is still a world champion, while Johnson has come nowhere near claiming another major title.
Also, consider the quality of the two old heads? recent opposition. Hopkins outpointed reigning IBF light-heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud and fringe contender Karo Murat. On the other hand, Johnson?s opponent, Velasquez, last fought in ? 1999!
So Johnson?s win doesn?t look quite so remarkable anymore, does it? And it doesn?t put him at Hopkins? level of effective longevity. But it just might serve another purpose. What would that purpose be? How about as a stepping stone for Hopkins-Johnson II.
Even though his knockout defeat in a failed bid for Hopkins? middleweight crown happened way back in the 1990s, the loss has surely rankled the Jamaican-born Johnson over the ensuing years. Johnson did well enough post-Hopkins. He had an excellent run at light-heavyweight, highlighted by his brutal beatdown of Roy Jones Jr. He even dropped down to super-middleweight to take part in the Super Six tournament. But he may well harbor dreams of another go at B-Hop.
That?s not out of the question. Amazing though he might be, Hopkins cannot go on forever. One of these days, his vast accumulation of ring guile and sagacity will no longer be enough to fend off the young lions of the division, such as Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev. And it wasn?t so long ago that another younger guy, Chad Dawson, handed Hopkins a decisive defeat. Of course, Dawson crashed afterwards, getting kayoed by Andre Ward and Stevenson. But his dominance of Hopkins showed that the old man can be beaten by the right guy with the right plan.
Is Glen Johnson the right guy? Probably not. Anything Johnson can do, Hopkins can still do better. Still, a reunion with Glengoffe in, say, Atlantic City ? where fans will pay to see Hopkins fight even the most nondescript of foes ? is probably a more attractive proposition for him than the potential peril of encounters with Stevenson or Kovalev.
Who knows? Maybe Hopkins-Johnson II could be a real-life counterpart to the Sylvester Stallone-Robert De Niro movie, Grudge Match.
