Reggie "Sweet" Johnson

Reggie Johnson is one of the most accomplished boxers ever to come out of the Houston area. After turning pro in 1984, he claimed the I.B.F. Middleweight Title in 1991. Johnson subsequently lost that belt to James Toney but took the W.B.A. Middleweight Title in 1992, followed by the I.B.F. Light Heavyweight Title in 1998. He has fought in 12 world title bouts. His last fight was in January of 2002, a split decision loss to Antonio Tarver. He has amassed a record of 42-7-1, with 24 knockouts. Reggie Johnson is back in the ring. Calling it a continuation of his career and not a comeback, he is scheduled to fight an undetermined opponent on August 27th at the Paragon Casino in Marksville, Louisiana. I caught up with Johnson after a recent workout at the 225 Boxing Gym in southeast Houston.

HBS - You just finished five pretty good rounds and then you did some other work. How do you feel right now?

RJ - Well you know I feel good. Timing coming on well. Weight is good. Gradually coming along. In fact I'm ahead of the schedule as far as my August 27th date.

HBS - What first got you involved in boxing?

RJ - I was somewhat of a troubled kid. I had an uncle, Kennerline Walker, who took me to the Boys Club, Salvation Army Boys Club here in Houston on Jensen and Aldine Westfield. Took me to the amateur coach there Mr. James Carter. The guy took me in, took a liking to me and the first day I put those gloves on, when it was all over I knew I had found my niche. From that point on, at the tender age of 12, I knew what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to become.

HBS - Tell me a little bit about your amateur career.

RJ - Well I had 108 amateur fights. 96-12. I had six international fights. Won all of those. Did the Scandinavian tour. Bangkok. Early '84 right before the Olympic trials I won the King's Cup tourament, which is a pretty prestigious tournament like the Pan Am games. After that fought in the Olympic trials. Lost a 3-2 split to Frank Tate who now lives in Houston. He went on to win the gold medal. He turned pro, I turned pro and the rest is history.

HBS - Your pro record is really nothing short of outstanding, if not great. What are some of the highlights in your mind?

RJ - Well first we need to go back to the amateur years. The great Pat Nappy, who had Leon Spinks, Ray Leonard, they won all the gold medals in the '76 games. I remember he came to me after the '84 trials and begged for me to stay another four years. And I explained to Pat Nappy, I said, "Well Pat I've got to help my family. I can't eat trophies. I can't eat medals." He said, "Well good luck, son I understand." So I turned pro at age 17. My mother signed my contract with me. Signed with a guy named Bob Peebley. Went on to have eight fights with him. I know I lost my first eight round fight, worrying about going eight rounds and when the eighth round was up, I'm ready to go.....(laughs). I paid my dues, had a lot of great fights. In 1989 a gym owner here mentioned to me that they had some guys in L.A. starting a boxing stable. Mr. Carl Dumay, who's deceased now, one of the trainers, Alberto Davila, the great bantamweight champion. So they flew me down for a week. I stayed there. They asked me what it was going to take to sign me. I wrote it on a paper. They said done. I came home, put all my stuff in storage and went to L.A., never looked back. That's where I gained most of my success, in L.A.

HBS - When you look back on it now what are some of your pro fights that you feel best about?

RJ - Moving to L.A. was such a great change coming from Houston going to Hollywood, fighting at the Great Western Forum. I did two promotions with Jerry Bus, the guy who owned the Lakers. He had the boxing at the Forum. Fighting there was marvelous and the first year and a half I think I was the busiest fighter in the world. I think I had nine fights in like a year and four months or something like that. I was number two by the W.B.A. and McCallen got stripped and then I fought James Toney. My first title shot I lost a split decision. And me and Steve Collins fought for the vacant W.B.A world middleweight title and I was successful in New Jersey.

HBS - Must have felt great to win your first world title.

RJ - It was a great feeling but I felt I won the fight against James Toney and I think that's one of my highlights, even though I lost to James Toney, being able to come back and suck it up six months later and win it in my second try.

HBS - Tell us about winning the light heavyweight title.

RJ - It was 1998. I think I was off for two years. Came back, my plan was to come back at 168. An opportunity presented itself. I jumped on it. Fought the new kid on the block, William "Kid Chocolate" Guthrie who was knocking everybody out. They was grooming him for Roy Jones. I had one tuneup fight. Knocked the guy out in 22 seconds. Next fight was for the light heavyweight championship of the world and you know the history of that. I knocked him out in five rounds on HBO.

HBS - Let's talk about your last fight against Tarver, a split decision. Apparently you suffered a broken eardrum in the third round or somewhere early on. Tell us about that fight.

RJ - It was a great fight. I felt that I controlled the fight the first two rounds. I was getting off to a good start in the third round and I think Tarver hit me with like a slapping punch that busted my eardrum. And I remember that for the next three or four rounds all I heard was this ringing noise and then I know when it went away my equilibrium, I was pretty messed up so I fought most of the fight off the ropes with my ring savvy. Then I clipped him in the ninth round and caught him with a looping left hand and dropped him. I had him out in the ninth round. He got up and survived and that's one of the fights that I felt that I lost. I got like seven losses on my record. Three of those I claim. The fourth, Roy Jones. I lost my seventh professional fight to Adam George, a kid from Louisiana, and then the Tarver fight. John David Jackson didn't beat me. Jorge Castro didn't beat me two times. He didn't beat me and James Toney definitely didn't beat me.

HBS - After the Tarver fight you quit fighting. What have you been doing since?

RJ - First of all I pretty much stayed in the gym. I just didn't disappear and quit. I had a promotional dispute. There's no need for me to name the promoter. That's behind me now. I'm moving on to bigger and better things. But you know I did what I felt was best. Before I go out and put my life on the line for that least money, you know I set the contract out. But that's over and once again I'm back and I'm looking to surprise them one more time.

HBS - So you're 38 now.

RJ - A tender 38.

HBS - It's still not like training when you're in your twenties or even like it was five years ago maybe. What's it like getting ready for a pro fight at the age of 38?

RJ - As you've seen I'm sparring with these young kids. This guy (Andre) Dirrell is an excellent kid. Reminds me a lot of Roy Jones. He's got the same speed, ring generalship. He's got a lot of natural ability. I'm able to keep up with these guys with my experience and as time goes on my timing will pick up and I'll do a lot better with these guys. I attribute that to really taking care of my temple. I've never had a drink or smoke in my life and I've always lived clean and my amateur coach Mr. James Carter told me, when I was 12 years old, when I put them gloves on, he told me I would become champion. He didn't lie to me. He told me if I didn't do drugs, which I've never did, smoke or drink in my life, that I could do anything I wanted to. I would be successful at anything I set out to do. All that is going to come into play at the age of 38 as I go for my third world title.

HBS - Do you know who you're fighting in August?

RJ - They've mentioned some names. Derek Holman, they've got like three or four guys. One of the things about me coming back. I don't want to play with this thing. I want to fight somebody in the top 15 in the world, see where I'm at and try to get to the world title shot as quick as possible.

HBS - Any of the current title holders that you're particularly interested in fighting?

RJ - Well if you check my resume, Reggie Johnson'll go anywhere. World champion means you travel around the world and fight whoever, whenever. I'm willing to fight any one of those guys. I'd love another shot at Tarver even though he doesn't have one of the sanctioning bodies that everybody recognizes. He is the legitimate champion, the people's champion and I'd love to have another shot at him. There are a lot of nice challengers out there, man. There are some great fights in every division. It's just a matter of these promoters getting out of the way and letting these fighters fight each other.

HBS - There are some critics who think fighters shouldn't come back after they reach a certain age. What's your reaction to that?

RJ - Well you know I'm in the frame of mind mentally first and foremost, this is not a comeback. This is a get-back. I'm coming back to get what I walked away from. I"m feeling fine. All of my faculties are together. I'm in excellent shape physically, mentally. You know I take from all those fans, boxing fans are some of the greatest people. I had the pleasure for the first time, got invited out to the Boxing Hall of Fame and the way the fans treated the fighters was unbelievable. I take their mindset into consideration. There are some fighters who really shouldn't be fighting so you know that's always in my mind. I want to walk away from this thing the way I came in, with all my faculties, my parts and everything working, with all my limbs, all my teeth. I'm in great shape and everything I set out to do I stayed true to it and I became successful. Once again I'm in a William Guthrie state of mind. I know where I got to be and I know the mindset I've got to be in to accomplish what I'm setting out to do. And another thing I'm from Texas, where Big George is from. We do everything big here and we do it longer.

HBS - Anything else you want to add?

RJ - I want to thank the Paragon Casino in Marksville, who's hosting the fight. I want to thank Mr. Rivas, who's the promoter, who pretty much sat down with me and pretty much me and him came to terms. Because I'm doing things a little different now. My company and his company is co-promoting this fight. I want to thank my agent Kerry Daigle and I want to thank Maurice "Termite" Watkins, a guy that I called and said "Termite I want to do it again". He took on the challenge and Termite really believes in me. A guy that when I was a kid I used to ride the city bus to go watch him train. Me and Termite got this thing where we tell everybody it went from me watching him to him watching me as a champion and now we're watching each other. Ain't that something.....? (laughs).....