Temple Mills, England: At age fifty-two, Tom Johnson was given his last chance at glory in the prize ring and seized it to full advantage. When Johnson and Thomas Owen met November last, Owen worked from well outside frustrating and tiring the old man but Johnson was ready this go-round looking trimmer than ever and ready for a race if that's what the champ wanted.
Johnson cut Owen off quickly in the opening round and leveled a few good blows in the corner. The old man nimbly sidestepped the champ's few advances and countered beautifully as he took the frame with ease. Owen adjusted nicely giving few opportunities to counter and won the next three rounds giving every indication that this would be a repeat performance of the bout that placed the belt around his waist. Johnson, determined to not allow his slide to continue pressed and struck home with a number of wallops that tallied the next two in his column leaving the men dead even through six.
The middle rounds sea-sawed but Johnson claimed three of five and had Owen's left eye nearly closed when the bell sounded the end of round eleven. Johnson, chest heaving, struggled through the twelfth but regained enough strength to take hold of the bout in the thirteenth. With Owen's legs beginning to fail, he was unable to dodge several haymakers from Johnson and dropped to a knee taking a six count. He rose and became a statue for the balance of the round feebly trying to fend off the sluggish but potent thumps from the old man's fists. The final two frames saw two men scarcely able to breath try in vain to deliver a fatal blow but neither could.
The decision was razor thin but went to Johnson eight rounds to seven largely on the strength of his late surge becoming the first man to regain a world title once lost. Afterward, Johnson stated his desire to fight only once more and to then retire to the country win, lose or draw.
The Ageless Tom Johnson