Glen Johnson wasn't a top 50 Middleweight when he fought Hopkins

but yet some are now trying to make the argument that now, because of what Johnson's accomplished years after the fact, this represents a great win for Hopkins. I've seen some even call it his best win, or put it in his top 3, top 5 level wins.

Now, let's set the record straight. Hopkins did have a great performance and dominated the fight- that much is clear. But Johnson at that stage was brought in for the fight simply to be an opponent with an unblemished record to market. Glen Johnson didn't develop into a world class fighter until years after the fact. I give Glen alot of props for that, but that doesn't change the fact that he was a paper prospect heading into the Hopkins fight.

Proof? Of his 32 fights leading up to the Hopkins fight to accumulate that sparkling unbeaten record, only 8 took place against opponents with even a winning record. Of those 8, only 2 were opponents coming in off of a win. Only one of was arguably top 100, although that one win that looks OK on paper (Sam Garr, who was 20-0) comes apart when you see that Garr only had one of his wins against a fighter with a winning record and was so small as a Middleweight, he eventually dropped to Welterweight.

The total record of Johnson's opposition up to that point was a dazzling
267-382 (41% win rate).

 

No, it definitely doesn't hurt. As I said, Hopkins did what he wanted to do and that was dominate the fight. Other fighters saw the same thing Hopkins did- a pretty record, and presumably, a safe win in signing to fight Johnson, leading to more title shots and big fights than his actual wins entitled him to in the following years. To Johnson's credit, he had the chance to just be the "good paper record opponent" and instead improved dramatically over the years to the point where he legitimately became a world class level fighter.

I simply thought it was important to point out that even though his record was prettiest when he fought Hopkins, his record at the time didn't even justify a top 50 ranking, let alone a title shot.

 

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying because Glen didn't even fight journeyman level competition leading into the Hopkins fight. I challenge you to show me an example of a top 50 fighter who's fought competition that poor in his first 32 fights, and particularly one who's lined up for a title shot because of it. All you need to do is rank Johnson's best 3 wins prior to Hopkins against said contender. If Johnson wins 2 out of 3, then I'll concede my point. Most prospects who only have 15 fights have already got him beat.

Here's a quick link to the resume. Let me know at which point he actually deserved the IBF title shot he got other than being an easy mark with an inflated record to sell.

http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=7361&cat=boxer