- JUNIOR DOWIE/Staff Photographer
Minister of Sport Portia Simpson Miller (right) presents International Boxing Organisation (IBO) light-heavyweight champion, Glen Johnson (centre), with a photograph at the Jamaica Boxing Association (JBA) luncheon in his honour at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston yesterday. At left is JBA president, Leroy Brown.
Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
INTERNATIONAL BOXING Organisation (IBO) light-heavyweight champion, Glen Johnson, was yesterday honoured by the Jamaica Boxing Association (JBA) and new sponsors Guinness at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston.
Johnson, known as the 'Road Warrior', was in the island after being nominated for the Carreras Sportsman of the Year award won by Danny McFarlane, the Olympic 400 metres hurdles silver medallist.
While paying tribute to Johnson, Sports Minister Portia Simpson Miller said it was not very often that someone gets time out from cabinet to attend a function, noting that "... it must be for a very special person".
She added: "We want to thank you in the true spirit of Jamaica for carrying us in your heart. We are very proud of you 'back-a-yard'."
HUMILITY
Continuing, the minister said what she admires most about Johnson is the humility he shows after his championship fights and his 'bigging up' of Jamaica.
"Every time after his fights and you hear him speak, you can identify readily and know that that accent is Jamaican. You don't have to know anything about him.
"But what impresses me most of all is that after one fight, and they asked, 'will you now say you are the best?' he said 'no, I am not the best, I am just the man that is willing to fight the man that says he is the best'," Simpson Miller noted.
"What humility!, she exclaimed. "... I love any sportsman or woman that demonstrates that quality with success. He has never forgot his homeland. We wish for you a very big, big payday," she concluded to a round of applause from the small gathering.
Johnson, born in Clarendon, was visiting the island for the first time in 21 years. He said he hoped to put boxing back on the road in Jamaica.
"Anything that I can do publicly I will be here as long as it doesn't interfere with my preparation for a fight," said Johnson, who lives in Florida.
JUST A CALL
"Mr Brown (Leroy) gives me a call and I will be here at the drop of a dime," said the two-time world champion.
Speaking with a mixture of Jamaican and American accent, Johnson said he only used the American accent while in school but once he was out of that environment it was back to "what I was most comfortable with".
"I am not a Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali, I am a Glen Johnson, a Jamaican," he added.
Meanwhile, Leroy Brown, the JBA president, said that Johnson living in Florida does not make him any less Jamaican.
Challenging that philosophy, Brown stated: "That's nonsense. Jamaicans go where it is best for us at that particular time. That does not
prevent you from being Jamaican.
"Glen Johnson is one of those Jamaicans who practices as a Jamaican, lives as a Jamaican and carries the Jamaican flag high. He left as a teenager but never forgot his roots.
The revival of boxing has started. He is one, which the youths of Jamaica can emulate," said Brown.
