By Scoop Malinowski

Glen Johnson became a legend of the ring the night he KO’ed Roy Jones in September 2004. Nobody ever expected to see Jones take a ten count and the that electrifying performance helped Johnson to earn the 2005 Ring Magazine and USA Today Fight of the Year honors. I spoke recently with The Gentleman about the legendary night he conquered Roy Jones Jr. in round 9. As well as why he believes he will take the WBC Light Heavyweight title from Chad Dawson this weekend in Tampa. Antonio Tarver also weighs in on the deceptive effectiveness of Glen Johnson.

Boxinginsider.com: I guess it’s safe to assume your finest performance in the ring was against Roy Jones?

Glen Johnson: “I would say the best performance of my career was the Roy Jones fight. I was on target, everything was on that night. The whole training camp, everything was on. I was taking out sparring partners. I was just feeling good. I was excited. I was paying attention to the negative things they was saying about me and it fueled me, it gave me the extra energy that I needed.”

Boxinginsider.com: Could you reflect what the critics were saying that motivated you?

Glen Johnson: “They were saying that there shouldn’t be a Glen Johnson-Roy Jones fight. There should be a rematch betwen Tarver and Jones instead of the Glen Johnson-Roy Jones fight. They were saying Roy Jones was going to wipe the ground with me. Knock me out. I felt it was a disrespect and I used that in a positive way.”

Boxinginsider.com: Was there a time in that fight where you saw an expression on Roy’s face where he was beginning to realize he was going to lose to you?

Glen Johnson: “Well there was no time in that fight that Roy Jones thought he was going to lose. I believe in the fifth round I believe he really tried to stand his ground and be like he was gonna make a statement and win. That didn’t work. I think in the fifth round is when he had his best round. And when that didn’t work I could see him thinking, This is not working out the way I expect. But I believe he still think that he would be able to find a way to pull it out.”

What’s it going to take to beat Chad Dawson?

Glen Johnson: “What’s it going to take to defeat Chad Dawson is Glen Johnson. And I will show the people exactly what it takes on April 12. I’m not really gonna talk too much about it. I’m not gonna give Chad reasons to make adjustments. I’m not gonna give him what any of my fighting plans are or anything like that. They’re gonna expect the same things that they saw on tape. And they’re gonna get a little bit of that plus some other things. And it’s gonna be an exciting fight. I will be champion that night, wearing the WBC title. I’m looking forward to the winner of the Tarver-Clinton Woods.”

Antonio Tarver explains why the 39-year-old Johnson is so effective and why he believes Johnson could upset Dawson.

“Glen Johnson just applies an enormous amount of pressure. You have to be in tremendous shape in order to do the things that your talents will allow you to do, in order to prevent Glen Johnson from just mowing you over. You gotta keep something in his face. You gotta be ready for a long, long fight. I give him a good chance against Chad. Because I don’t think Chad knows that. He’s going to have to experience that to know what it’s really like.”