By James Slater: Light-heavyweight contender Shaun George, the man who ended Chris Byrd’s career back in May, is determined to become a world champion at 175-pounds. Currently waiting for the green light on his next fight, George is a guy who must be given a big fight soon.
A good boxer with a good record – the 29-year-old is unbeaten as a light-heavyweight – George is hoping to land a fight with former champ Glen Johnson. In turn hoping a win over “The Road Warrior” would lead to a shot at one of the current belt holders in his current division, George just might be two wins away from becoming the holder of a recognisable title.
According to George himself, in an interview he gave with 15Rounds.com, the Johnson fight is in the works for November 1st. This would be one fine match-up. George wants to prove he is the best in the world at light-heavyweight (his words), while Johnson is still fuming about his close points loss to former WBC champion Chad Dawson. With both fighters very much holding world title aspirations, especially George, who has never been afforded a world title shot so far in his eight-year career, this clash would pit two hungry fighters against one another.
Could George do to Johnson what he did to Byrd, and end the veteran’s career – at least at top level? One more loss, if it were a comprehensive one, would very possibly finish Johnson off. How many times can the seemingly ageless warrior come again? And if George were to be the man who saw off Glen once and for all, he would surely have put his own name even higher up in the current 175-pound division. Quite simply, if George gets the November fight he is hopeful about getting, he will have everything to shoot for.
If he can get past Johnson (an even fight for my money) the 29-year-old who has only been stopped once, and that loss coming up at cruiserweight, would likely be one win away from realising his dream. A fight with new WBC champ Adrian Diaconu (who was awarded Dawson’s belt because “Bad Chad” opted to face Antonio Tarver instead of him) could be the route George winds up going. That, too, would be an interesting fight.
It was the win over Byrd that got George where he is right now. And yes, “Rapid Fire” had seen better days, he was weakened due to the amount of weight he’d lost, and yes, George was still overly cautious against the former heavyweight champ at times, even though he had a man waiting to be stopped in front of him. But none of this alters the fact that George is a very talented and hungry fighter.
I wouldn’t be overly surprised to see him out-point Johnson and then wind up challenging for a version of the title later this year. Is he good enough to beat either Diaconu, Tarver or Dawson? Seeing as he’s unbeaten as a light-heavyweight, he just might be!