17.05.07 – By Wray Edwards: Photo © Wray Edwards/ESB. Up on the apron to shoot the victory photos, we agreed with Referee Jorge Alonso who offered that this was “One hell of a fight.” Throughout eleven crowd-pleasing rounds Glen Johnson and Montell Griffin boxed and slugged their way to a satisfactory conclusion. The entertainment value of their contest was head and shoulders above the Mayweather-De La Hoya mismatch.
The undercard included a no contest, a low blow tko a dreaded draw, a ud, and a first round tko leading up to the main event. The messy bunch of bouts which preceded the main, provided an example of what not to do in a boxing ring and, by contrast, rendered the main event even more enjoyable. Here is an ESB pictorial of the get down action between Johnson and Griffin: Both fighters brought good conditioning, a balance of offense and defense and very little inclination to hold into the ring. Most of the contest was a great mix of slugging and boxing.
As the fight progressed, Johnson’s edge for at least a decision victory increased. Johnson’s conditioning and strength began to overpower Montell’s defenses. The left side of Griffin’s face began to look very red and abraded. These photos give a pretty good idea of the give-and-take of the contest.
In Round eleven, Montell became less-and-less able to defend himself or attack in any way. He was backing up, catching shots and ending up on the ropes more often.
At about 2:45 of the eleventh round Griffin’s corner man began to waive his arms to have Alonso stop the fight. At 2:38 Jorge grabs Glen’s right arm to stop him from hurting Montell any further. Griffin seems to have fought well above his ranking and justified the designation of this fight to be a title eliminator.
Glengoffe Johnson is what Boxing is all about. He has been beaten by the likes of Hopkins, Ottke, Sheika, Tarver, woods and Vanderpool which all goes to prove he is and has always been in the thick of it. He has also conquered Tarver, Jones and Woods (twice) demonstrating his journeyman credentials. Presumably his fourth contest with Woods will be for the IBF LHT. Some say Clinton “Has his number” but Woods is still down two to one facing Glen.
It is men like Johnson who form the pillars of the profession. At thirty-eight years old he belongs in that group of Boxers like Hopkins and others who stay in shape, avidly seek the highest challenges and represent the sport with gentlemanly virtue and honor.
In other action tonight a Super Middleweight bout between Jean Palacio and Eric Clinton ended prematurely after an unintentional head-butt cut Palacio to the degree that the fight was stopped and declared a “no decision”. Then, in a Light Welterweight event, Travis Hartman was the victim of an “unintentional low blow” which resulted in his opponent Damian Frias being given a TKO win as Hartman was unable to continue after five minutes rest.
The crowd booed Hartman for not going on, but I think the bout should have been called no contest. It is entirely possible that a low blow might traumatize a boxer’s jewels to the degree that it would take a week or two to get squared away. I had a football injury which sidelined me for ten days. If the epididimis (sp ?) is bruised, it can take a week just to be able to walk without looking like Pacos Bill.
The third bout ended with another dumb outcome as Boxing continues to shoot itself in the foot by allowing draws. Derrick Brown and Alfredo Escalara blasted away at each other for six rounds only to have their entire effort declared a draw by the judges who just couldn’t make up their minds. The crowd booed (with me in agreement this time) and we need to go to uneven rounds if this continues.
Also Joe Green got a UD over Jose Spearman in a Middleweight attraction, after which Joel Julio scored a first round TKO over Mauro Lucero in another Middleweight attraction.
ESB would like to thank the Seminole Hard Rock Casino, Redline Media Group and Warrior’s Boxing for their kind assistance in making our coverage possible. Watch here for Briggs-Ibragimov and the second of June. See you at the fights.