The 39 steps

Yo. Thirty-nine years old, in fact. To be a 39-year old boxer, you gotta have ropey old-man muscles, hardness built on hardness: That’s the only remedy for the light, flicker-fast fists of the 25-year-olds who want to bow the ropes. Punks. You’re Glen Johnson. You turned pro in 1993, back when they were still grabbing their dicks when they needed to piss. Speed without power is nothing. Let them punch. Let light-flying fists land where thousands of others have. They register, but in the end, they ain’t nothing. Antonio Tarver brought faster. Roy Jones Junior brought harder. You beat them both. But Chad Dawson beat you in the last fight, and you couldn’t believe it. You told the TV reporter: “He’s a good fighter. But he’s not good enough to beat me. … I cannot believe at my age, at 39, they would rip me off like this for a young and talented young guy who has the world in his hands, for the future. I’m on my last leg, working hard for my future.”

That was in Tampa; this time, in Hollywood, you draw an old battleship, Tiwon Taylor, a 34-year-old, at the top of a card that also includes Edison Miranda and James “Buddy” McGirt Jr. This is Old Hard Fighter against Old Hard Fighter.

“I fight every man in the world,” you said after Dawson won. You get to prove it tonight at 7:30 at Hard Rock Live (5747 Seminole Way, Hollywood). Tickets cost $20 to $150, and are available at the venue’s box office, on ticketmaster.com, or by calling 954-523-3309.
Tue., Nov. 11, 2008