By Rich Bergeron

40-year-old Light Heavyweight Reggie Johnson (43-7-1, 25 KO’s) has been in with the best before, and he’s got plenty to be proud of having won two world titles - but it’s still not enough. He’s aiming for world title number three in his latest surge back into the sport after taking a few years off. He knows reaching that goal will put him in the hall of fame, where he’ll join an elite list of the world’s best. Like many other fighters in boxing these days, age is just a number to Johnson, and a quick look around his division reveals he’s not the only contender over 35-years-old.

“I think there’s a lot of good prospects up and coming,” said Johnson. “Boxing has a lot of potential, but it’s gonna take the older guys to, you know, carry the sport until then. I really like my chances. Think about it, out of all the light heavyweights, there’s a bunch that are 37 and over, 36, and 35.”

He is currently at the negotiating table with Glen Johnson (44-11-2, 29 KO’s), who will be 38 by the time the two fighters meet in the ring next year.  

“Course we close to signing. I feel like it’s gonna happen sometime in the first quarter of 2007,” said Johnson. “We’ve been talking for a whole year, putting this fight together. Our whole careers have run parallel. He and I both had bad decisions. We were always fighting guys in their backyards, and we’d both fight anybody willing to fight us.”

The Johnson and Johnson match is just part of Reggie’s pattern of refusing to pad his record with pushovers. "I want the number one contender. I ain’t fightin’ no guys from the bus station,” said Johnson. “It took Tarver 24 rounds to beat this guy, and I want to show the world I can do something Roy Jones didn’t do.”

The toughest aspect of making this fight happen for Johnson has been finding the financial support. “We need investors,” said Johnson. “It’s tough getting people to put the money up, getting good solid investors. Glen already agreed, and I’ve got a commitment from him.”

As for how he’ll win, he provides a simple explanation. “By being the smarter man,” he said. “The element of surprise, that’s what’s coming. Of course these guys expecting Reggie been off all this time, gonna probably look at me as a tune up.”

Asked what he has to say to those who might dismiss his chances, he promised to let the action in the ring prove his point. “Just buy the fight. Pay Per View On Demand. See if they wrong or right,” he said.

He considers some of the old legends his role models. “Of course Ali, who has inspired us all. Then there’s George Foreman, who I can really relate to, because he grew up in the same part of Houston, Texas that I was raised in. Sugar Ray Robinson, Jake Lamotta, Rocky Marciano. All those guys pretty much inspired me,” Johnson said. 

Since he’s been so unlucky with his promoters over the years, Johnson runs his own career now. “I think the hardest part has been me going against the grain, cutting out the middle man, doing it from my end myself,” he said. “I’m a fighter, and I take all the risks, so I should get the lion’s share of the money. Usually it’s promoter vs. promoter, and this way I’m going against the grain, and that’s pretty much been the hardest part.”

Though he’s been working out regularly, he’s waiting to ink the contract before he launches into full preparation mode. “As soon as I sign that contract, I’m headed to southern California to start training,” he said.

Though Glen Johnson is coming off a September loss to Clinton Woods (40-3-1, 24 KO’s), he has not taken any significant time off from the sport since he started out as a professional in 1994. He will be coming in with more experience that Reggie’s had in recent years, but at the same time Reggie’s shown that he is by no means rusty. He knocked out fellow Southpaw Fred Moore (30-6, 27 KO’s) in August of last year after spending three years on the bench. Banking on the talent that took him to two previous world title wins, Reggie Johnson refuses to fight any tune up battles and only wants the kind of bouts that will truly test his skills.

“I’m only interested in fighting the top guys, that’s the reason I’m so keyed on fighting Glen,” he said. “Like I said, it took Tarver 24 rounds to beat him, and he knocked out Roy Jones, so if I go in there and knock out Johnson, it might force a fight between me and Hopkins. That’s something that should have happened at middleweight over a decade ago.”

Johnson is all for Hopkins coming back at heavyweight, despite wanting to fight him at his weight. “If he can pull it off, if he’s getting paid, I can understand that,” he said. 

Looking at the overall picture of the sport, Johnson can see that plenty of excitement is being generated that might overshadow all the reports that boxing is losing fans. “There’s the Jermain Taylor fight, and he’ll be moving up in weight to maybe fight Calzaghe, and there’s a bunch of good fights coming down the pipe,” he said. “De La Hoya and Mayweather should break all records. I’m guessing a million and a half buys, or close to it.” Johnson didn’t really endorse either fighter in that match-up, but he said the weight will play a key role, and since De La Hoya is used to fighting at 154, he could come out on top. 

“Everybody’s saying boxing is in trouble. I think it’s getting better,” he said. “I’ve seen a little progress. I see it as a lot more ahead of the game, and fighters are coming together in suits. They’re coming together, sitting at the table like businessmen, saying, ‘Let’s agree on something.’”

Johnson is really impressed with more fighters becoming involved in the promotional side of things. “You got a guy like De La Hoya, who’s just unbelievable, and I love what he’s doing,” he said. “These guys could really make a real impact if they started offering five or 10 thousand for the undercard fights, for a four round fight. If they’re serious about the fighters, they will start doing that. Think about that, pay two guys, 5,000 dollars a piece for a four round fight, eight rounders get a little more, and 10 rounders more than that. Think about what kind of impact that’ll have. The fighter’s the one who takes all the risks. De La Hoya’s in position to make a home run with this.”

Reggie Johnson is just proud to have something in his life he loves to do and can get paid for at the same time. “The best part is doing something in my element, doing what I do, something second nature to me,” he said. “How many people are given a chance to enjoy their job? There’s a lot of people out there who get up every day and work nine to five. And they don’t want to get out of bed. They hate what they do. I love getting up and doing what I do.”

But boxing is not just a job to Johnson. He said that after he fights Glen Johnson he’ll be really striving for something better. “I wanna get another crack at a title, defend it two or three times, and that will concrete me in the Boxing Hall of Fame, and then I’ll be able to walk away as a champion,” he said.

His perspective on his return is reminiscent of the famous L.L. Cool J. tune Mama Said Knock You Out. “I’m serious about this get back,” he said. “I don’t call it a comeback. I never officially retired. I just had a bad experience, dealing with managers and promoters. Reggie Johnson work for himself now. In my career before, I put my faith as a boxer in another man’s hands. I’m from Texas. We do everything big. We do it bigger and we do it longer. If you don’t believe me, just put George Foreman in your Google search.”

He also had a few nice things to say about fellow Texan Evander Holyfield. He was quick to say nobody should be dismissing the former champ’s chances. “You never know. That’s the thing. They buried me, just like they buried him,” said Johnson. “With Tyson, he was unbelievable. We was on the U.S. Boxing team together. I’d like to see him pack it in, but who am I to say he shouldn’t be fighting? He’s got a lot of heart. Everybody thought Oquendo was gonna kill him. Fighting Oquendo, man that guy can fight, and he beat him.”

Johnson might be much further in his career if he’d had less troubles with his past promoters, but he’s still committed to making up for lost time. “When I’m afforded the opportunity like this to get Johnson or anyone else in that ring, I’ll secure a third world title,” he said. “You can have all the talent, all the heart, and all the guts in the world, but if you don’t get that opportunity you’ll go nowhere. Some of the best fighters in the world never got a chance to see a championship, because they never got the opportunity. I know that for a fact.”