Johnson nearing peak for title fight

miami, florida (cmc)

Jamaica's world light heavyweight boxing champion Glen Johnson has entered his last two weeks of preparation for his World Boxing Council (WBC) title fight and he remains confident of defeating champion Chad Dawson.

At 39 years old, Johnson is 14 years older than the young unbeaten champion, but he believes in his physical condition and ability to win the WBC's 175-pound belt next week Saturday at the St Pete Times Forum in Tampa.

"I'm feeling great and I'm going to be victorious by knockout or decision. Either way I'm going to get it done," Johnson told the BoxingTalk website this week.

Great fighter

Johnson highly regards the 25-year-old southpaw (left-hander) but remains undaunted by Dawson's quality as a champion and unblemished record of 25-0 with 17 knockouts.

"Dawson is a great fighter. I love a lot of things I see him do. He's a young guy and he's got a lot of upside. We're definitely taking him serious and we're looking forward to him putting on a wonderful performance and we're going to be victorious man," said Johnson, who has a ring record of 47 wins (32 knockouts) against 11 losses and two draws.

A native of the central Jamaican parish of Clarendon, Johnson is a former International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion who has tended to get better with age.

His exploits as a 35-year-old four years ago earned him the 'World Fighter of the Year Award' for 2004 when he logged superb wins against Britain's Clinton Woods and the American standouts Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver.

Three-fight winning streak

Now on a three-fight winning streak after he had lost an IBF title fight to Woods in September 2006, Johnson believes he is on top of his game and carries too many tools and ring-craft for Dawson to handle.

Johnson believes Dawson will be troubled by the fact that he has not faced anyone like him before.

"There's only one Glen Johnson out there. He's in a whole different ball game now from anything he's ever experienced before.

"I believe that he's a good challenge and he's got a lot of skill, but I'm loaded in the field of overall boxing sense. I'm very educated and in the ring I know how to manoeuvre and get it done. He doesn't have what it takes to prevent me from doing what I want to do," Johnson added.

Dawson won the WBC belt February last year when he defeated Tomasz Adamek on points in Florida, and successfully defended the title against Jesus Ruiz (in June) and Epifanio Mendoza (September) both by technical knockout.

The bout is part of a huge Showtime Television title double-header that includes another key light heavyweight bout between Tarver and IBF king Woods.