Gordon Williams, Contributor 
Glen Johnson is lifted high by his handlers after he defeated American Antonio Tarver last year. - File
TWO JAMAICAN-born boxers will clash in the United States next month for the vacant International Boxing Association (IBA) light heavyweight title.
Former International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion Glen "Road Warrior" Johnson faces Richard "The Destroyer" Hall on Feb. 24 at the Hard Rock Seminole Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
For Hall, the fight offers the chance at a belt once owned by the likes of former American great Roy Jones Jr.
However, the highly rated Johnson is using the bout as a warm-up for a likely mid-year shot to regain his IBF crown against Britain's Clinton Woods, the current champion.
"It's just keeping in tune," said Johnson, who has a ring record of 43 wins, 10 losses and two draws. "I could sit around and wait for June (the deadline for Woods to make the mandatory fight with him or risk being stripped of his IBF crown). But I have to stay busy."
In two fights with Woods, Johnson, who plans to fight again before he faces the current IBF champ, has drawn once and won. The win gave him his initial hold on the IBF belt. Yet the IBF's number one rated contender said he is not "looking past" Hall.
"He is a tough guy," Johnson said.
Hall is a southpaw power puncher with 25 knockouts in 27 wins, coupled with five losses. He has fought the likes of former American great Roy Jones Jr., who Johnson knocked out.
FAVOURABLE PATCH
Jamaican-born fighters have been enjoying a favourable patch in the ring recently. Earlier this month O'Neil Bell knocked out Frenchman Jean-Marc Mormeck in New York to become the undisputed world cruiserweight champion.
Johnson's handlers had hoped the February 24 fight could have generated demand in Jamaica as a homecoming fight for Hall and Johnson to settle the IBA score.
However, according to Johnson's manager Henry Foster, the country made no solid offers and that proposal fizzled.
"I wish this fight was in Jamaica," Foster said, "but we couldn't get an interest."
The two fighters started boxing at a relatively advanced age - Hall at 19, Johnson about a year later.
Johnson left Jamaica as a teenager, Hall about age 21. And while Johnson said he took up boxing as a way to shed weight, Hall admits the sport helped to steer him clear of trouble.
"Before I got into boxing I was a bad kid," he once told East Side Boxing, a U.S.-based website.
Yet both fighters retain strong ties to Jamaica.
For Johnson, who has been in ring battles all over the world to earn his "Road Warrior" nickname, the fight will be the Miami resident's first bout in South Florida in about a decade. The card is billed "Return of the Road Warrior".
Johnson, who last fought in late September, is eager to get back to the top after vacating his title to fight American Antonio Tarver. He claims that although he would prefer to fight Woods in the U.S., he would be ready to meet the Brit anywhere.
"It really don't make a difference," he said. "It would be more convenient in the U.S. with the travel and all, but business is business."
Johnson also had high praise for Bell's recent accomplishment.
"He (Bell) did us proud," Johnson said. "I'm very proud and very happy. I can't wait to give him his props."
Bell and Johnson are scheduled to meet this weekend at the Hard Rock where a party is being staged to celebrate Bell's victory.
Meanwhile, the Florida-based Warrior's Promotions, which is putting on the Johnson vs. Hall bout at the Hard Rock, is hoping that next month's match-up, featuring different boxing styles, will pull fight fans, especially those Jamaicans living in the area. More than 300,000 Jamaicans are estimated to reside in South Florida.
"Hall is a big puncher, Glen is a great boxer, not a big puncher," said Leon Margules, Warrior's Promotions' executive director. "Both guys are action fighters. It's gonna be a war. Styles make fights. These guys don't run."
