Tarver and Johnson Talk.

Glen Johnson is a soft-spoken man without the typical boxing bravado of, say, Antonio Tarver. So Johnson smiled when asked about the man he’s about to fight. “Talk is talk. Anyone with a mouth can talk,” Johnson said. “Not just Antonio Tarver, but any guy who talks too much – they’re not just trying to convince the people who are listening. You’re trying to convince yourself. It’s what you do in the ring that wins the fight.” Johnson spoke following a news conference where Tarver and his entourage loudly proclaimed Tarver’s superiority entering Saturday night’s twelve-round light heavyweight bout at Staples Center. “Every man I’ve faced, I’ve defeated,” Tarver said. “It will be the same Saturday night.”

Both men gave up championships for this bout. The WBC stripped Tarver of his belt for not agreeing to fight mandatory challenger Paul Briggs of Australia. Johnson decided to relinquish the IBF version rather than fight the organization’s top challenger, Rico Hoye. “Right now, we have lightning in a bottle,” Tarver said. “This fight will never be as big as it is right now.” Johnson, thirty-five, probably wondered if he’d ever get such a big money opportunity, especially after losing a ten-round decision to Julio Gonzalez less than two years ago.

Gonzalez will be fighting on the undercard Saturday night, along with Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward, who will be making his professional debut. After losing to Gonzalez, Johnson had a win and two draws before outpointing Clinton Woods last February to win the IBF championship. Then came his stunning ninth-round knockout of Roy Jones Jr. three months ago. Things were so tight financially that Johnson worked in construction as recently as last spring to supplement his income. He had by far his biggest payday against Jones, earning more than $800,000, and he’ll make $1.05 million for this fight.

“I had feelings about quitting when I looked at the politics of boxing and how much that worked against me,” Johnson said. “But I have a great manager who stood by me. He told me, “You’re right there. These guys aren’t beating you, they’re robbing you.”’ Johnson said his manager, Henry Foster, gave him that pep talk after the loss to Gonzalez. “I really felt like I got robbed that fight,” Johnson said.

Johnson didn’t take up boxing until he was twenty, when a co-worker on a construction site needed a sparring partner. Johnson soon was hooked, and he turned professional three years later. He won his first thirty-two pro fights but continued to do construction work most of that time. With an overall record of 41-9-2 with 28 knockouts, he’s just 9-9-2 in his last twenty fights. But here he is – about to meet the man acknowledged to be the best light heavyweight in the world.

Tarver is also coming off a knockout victory over Jones, having stopped him in the second round last May – seven months after losing a disputed decision to Jones. Referring to the knockouts of Jones, Tarver said: “That’s the only thing we have in common.” That’s not entirely true, because the thirty-six-year-old Tarver wasn’t very well known before his first fight with Jones and has struggled at times during his career. “It’s a tough game we’re in,” Tarver said. “I’ve always believed in myself. It took a guy like Roy Jones Jr. to open the door for me. I’m thankful for my struggle.”

Tarver weighed 175 pounds and Johnson 174 1/4 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in. Tarver, who will earn more than $2 million, has a 22-2 record with 18 knockouts. He didn’t turn pro until he was 28, after competing in the 1996 Olympics. When Ward won the light heavyweight division in Athens in August, he became the first American to win an Olympic boxing gold medal since the 1996 Games. Ward, twenty, will face Christopher Molina in a four-round bout. “The gold medal is behind me,” Ward said. “My job is to go perform.”

HBO will show the Ward-Molina fight and air a replay of last weekend’s Vitali Klitschko-Danny Williams heavyweight championship fight before providing coverage of the main event. Live coverage begins at 9 p.m. EST.