Round by Round: Tarver-Johnson.

Glencoffe Johnson took a hard fought split decision win over Antonio Tarver on Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The win solidifies Johnson as the universally recognized light heavyweight champion of the world even in the absence of any of the

top-three sanctioning organization titles. Both fighters were exhausted by the end of the contest and both certainly had their moments as many of the rounds swayed back and forth in terms of momentum. Tarver felt he had done enough to win the fight but Johnson took the verdict and by the sound that emanated from the L.A. crowd, Johnson was a popular winner indeed. Click “full story” for the saddoboxing.com round by round report.

Antonio Tarver-Glencoffe Johnson.

Round one: The opening round is a carbon copy of Johnson’s effort against Roy Jones Jr. in the first round of their fight. Johnson backs Tarver up constantly with his pressure and throws a lot of hard shots to the body. Tarver remains against the ropes for a lot of the round. Tarver tries to get his jab started and aims for the body in trying to bring Johnson’s hands down.

Round two: This is a good round. Tarver starts to land some solid right hooks from his southpaw stance and seems to hurt the orthodox Johnson with a series of straight left hands. Johnson tries to keep his defense tight and has some more success with some hard body punches.

Round three: Both fighters trade shots openly. Both have their successes with their straight punches to the head. Tarver lands with some solid combinations. Johnson is not as rhythmic and energetic as he was against Jones, he seems content to wade into Tarver irrespective of Tarver’s power and tries to land his own punches.

Round four: The first half of this round belongs to Johnson as he jabs and looks for openings in Tarver who is backed up against the ropes. Johnson has some eye-catching success by landing bunches of punches here. In the second half of the round, Tarver starts to get a little bit of room in which to work and he does some good work with his left hand to Johnson’s head and body.

Round five: Tarver seems hurt by a big rear uppercut from Johnson. Johnson follows this up with a barrage of shots and seems to shake Tarver up again with a right hand but it becomes fairly clear that Tarver is trying to sucker Johnson in. Johnson is not fooled for long and exercises a little more patience in his work. Johnson takes the round by out-working Tarver.

Round six: Tarver tries to jab and set up his powerful left hand but Johnson keeps his defense tight for the early part of the round. Suddenly there is a clash of heads and Johnson is cut over one of his eyes. Tarver smells an advantage and swarms over Johnson and completely dominates the round with lots of good left hand shots and varied combinations to the head and body.

Round seven: They both exchange combinations but Tarver always seems to be getting backed up. It looks like Tarver spent a lot of energy in the previous round and is paying for it now. Johnson lands a lot of one-two combinations while Tarver’s responses look labored and most of his shots lack their earlier snap.

Round eight: Tarver lands a lot of punches in this round. He finally manages to back Johnson up and it looks like Johnson is bleeding again from the cut caused by the head-butt. Johnson is hurt by a few sharp left hands from Tarver.

Round nine: Johnson comes back again and lands more accurately and consistently. When they land, Tarver’s punches appear to have greater effect but they are few and both fighters appear to be extremely tired at this point.

Round ten: Trainer Buddy McGirt urges Tarver to go out and take the round by standing his ground but Tarver almost completely takes the round off. Johnson bosses the round with right hands and good work with his jab. Tarver lands a huge left hand but has to eat a right hand back from Johnson in response.

Round eleven: A few good lefts from Tarver cannot match Johnson’s persistence. Johnson continually lands better quality punches more consistently. Tarver gets through with some hurtful left hands but gets thrown down by Johnson; Tarver is obviously exhausted. Johnson closes the round in style with a huge flurry of punches that have Tarver reeling.

Round twelve: A very exciting closing round. Tarver flurries bigtime and takes the first half of the round while Johnson defies logic and comes back in a similar fashion to take the second half of the round.

The judges score cards read: 115-112 Tarver/115-113 Johnson/115-113 Johnson.

The winner by split decision and the legitimate light heavyweight champion of the world, Glencoffe ‘The Road Warrior” Johnson!

Jim Cawkwell can be reached at jimcawkwell@yahoo.co.uk