By José Santana Jr: Saturday night at the XL Center in Hartford, CT former light heavyweight champion Glen Johnson (49-12-2, 33KOs) will get another shot at a world title in a rematch of an exciting 2008 clash with Chad Dawson (28-0, 17KOs). Dawson retained his WBC light heavyweight title in the first fight winning a controversial UD over the aggressive Johnson, a decision which Johnson and his trainer Orlando Cuellar hope to leave out of the judges’ hands this time around.
The interim WBC light heavyweight title is at stake once again (Dawson was stripped of the title after the Johnson fight), as well as the IBO light heavyweight title. After, in Johnson’s opinion, being cheated out of winning the world title in the first fight, Johnson is taking no chances against Dawson, widely considered the top light heavyweight currently.
Johnson has been in the ring with a bevy of the top fighters throughout his career and his willingness to fight anybody has garnered the loyal fanaticism of many of boxing’s truest fans. In spite of the 12 losses on his ledger, he has equally defeated many of the most highly regarded fighters he has encountered such as Antonio Tarver, Clinton Woods, and Roy Jones Jr.
SecondsOut was able to catch up with Johnson and respected trainer Orlando Cuellar to talk about what they plan to bring to the ring Saturday night and much more:
José Santana Jr: How has this training camp gone for you guys?
Orlando Cuellar: We’ve had one of the best training camps we’ve ever had. It was a good camp and Glen is in good spirits. We’re really excited about this opportunity to get a crack once again at a world title. Glen’s done over a hundred rounds of sparring and over 200 rounds of pad work. He’s had excellent sparring and great conditioning, and all is good. Compared to the other training camps this is the best training camp Glen Johnson has done up to this moment.
Glen Johnson: We had a great camp. We’re excited and looking forward to kicking some ass Saturday night.
This is the second fight between you and Chad Dawson. You lost the first fight questionably; do you feel the need to go into this fight and take it from him and take the decision out of the judges’ hands?
OC: We feel that we have to knock him out; we’re not going to leave it up to the judges. But we’ve been working on a couple of things that we’re going to pull out in the fight. Chad is a good fighter, a talented fighter, but he doesn’t have Glen’s maturity or his toughness, nor does he have Glen’s chin or firepower. We’re going to check his chin, we’re going to check his ribs and we’re going for the knockout. It’s a must win situation for us so we’re coming out and going to do what we did last time, and then some.
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GJ: Yeah we’re going to try and get the knockout and leave out of the judges hands. But if that doesn’t come then we’ll get the decision, whichever way it works out.
Orlando, how did you and Glen first get together and begin training him?
OC: He called me up for the Eric Harding fight in 2003. We clicked well and things worked out for us. We get along great and have always had a lot of success together.
Glen, lots of people have been asking for a rematch of this fight because the first one was so close and exciting. You have been able to build a loyal fanbase though it may not be the biggest. Are you feeling an increase in support from boxing fans?
GJ: I’m getting a lot of love right now and I’m embracing it. I’m very thankful for that. I’m looking forward to coming out and representing all my fans well.
Orlando, how did you get into boxing and start training?
I fought in the amateurs in Miami and was going to junior college so I wasn’t able to pursue the pros as I had wanted to. But I had so much passion for boxing and in 1980 I started training fighters in [Las] Vegas. Then after four years training fighters in Vegas I moved to California and worked at different gyms training Mexican fighters mostly for about four years. Then in 1984 after four years in Los Angeles I moved to New York. In New York I trained all kinds of fighters right up until now; I’ve never stopped. For me it was always a passion; something that I love to do. I love the challenge and the money’s not that bad once you get to the world class level.
From your experience being all around the country, have you picked up things from the different areas that you’ve been in that have helped you with training your fighters?
OC: Yeah, basically I absorbed it all. I picked up a little bit from whoever I thought had interesting things that I could use and I made a collage of my own. Today I basically don’t train any two fighters the same. I believe that each fighter has his own fabric and I don’t really change fighters much, I complement what they do already. So I use a bit of everything. I’m a firm believer that you don’t know it all so the more open-minded you keep the more things you can pick up. There’s always something that you can pick up from somebody that you can use at some point.
Glen, who are some of your favorite fighters and is there anyone you have tried to model yourself after?
GJ: Not really, I have always admired Marvin Hagler and his style in the ring. He was a real strong guy. But I wouldn’t say that my style is similar to his.
Any last words?
GJ: We’ve been working real hard. I’m going to take full advantage of this opportunity to go and accomplish my goals.
November 6,2009
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