Chad Dawson Versus Antonio Tarver, or, Glen Johnson Will Not Be Forgotten

This past Saturday, I settled in to watch the elder, motor-mouthed Tarver face off against the up-and-coming Dawson. The last time I mentioned Dawson, it was in protest of his win over Glen Johnson by decision.

To recap, it was my position that the wheels of the boxing industry had already written the script that Dawson was to move easily past Johnson to set up the highly anticipated Tarver vs. Dawson. Because the Johnson vs. Dawson went to decision, the judges stuck to this script. The cold hard facts of life were, on one hand, Johnson clearly won the fight on points, and, on the other hand, this victory was taken away from him. Luckily, Glen Johnson seems to be moving on, according to this article from the Jamaica Observer.

What are you gonna do? Like Glen Johnson, we move forward. Which puts us back in continuity with the boxing industry photo-play, already in progress. Tarver, the same age as Johnson by the way, needed to prove himself against the up-and-comer. And Dawson, who did not prove himself victorious against Johnson, needed to prove himself against the established Tarver to make a definitive statement of his world class status.

To Dawson's credit, unlike with Johnson, he brought it this time. While Tarver stayed in there throughout, it was obvious that Dawson had more power and focus consistently throughout all twelve rounds, and the judges justly awarded him the victory on points. The match with Johnson, for better or worse, humbled Dawson and seemed, from my perspective, to imbue the fighter with a classy skillful determination that I did not detect in him with the Johnson fight.

As I say to the old lady when she inquires about my favorites prior to a boxing match, my favorite is simply whichever fighter fights the best fight. And in this particular fight, it was Dawson. Opinions about Johnson vs. Dawson didn't enter into the picture while actually observing last Saturdays fight as it happened.

Looking to the future, personal and biased inclinations make me want to see Johnson make a tremendous comeback and force Dawson to have to fight him again, so, on that note, I'll be watching Glen Johnson's underdogged career with some interest.

I've been hip to buying tins of the cigarillo version of the Carlos Torano Exodus 1959 line. It's a good purchase in that, for the money, I feel it's nice to have a few extra on hand to give to a cigar smoking buddy (actually, I recall slipping JSH one of the Reserva Selecta line in this size, which is a bit more of a mellow smoke, at his Weird Kentucky book signing at Morris Book Shop), who may not be as dedicated a smoker as I, and is a nice sized cigar for when I'm leaning towards a more concise cigar experience. It's not what you want when you really wanna kick back and spend some time with a cigar. The Torano cigarillo is a well-crafted short film, as opposed to an epic movie. The tin's kinda cool, too. It was one of these puppies I smoked as Dawson put Tarver under the rug.

--JTD