On April 12, Showtime Championship Boxing will telecast a light heavyweight championship doubleheader from Tampa, Florida. Headlining the night will be Chad Dawson, 25, and his WBC belt against former world champion Glencoffe Johnson, 39. Co-headlining the card is IBF light heavyweight champion Clinton Woods, 35, squaring off against former undisputed champion Antonio Tarver, 39.

Dawson is the youngest of the four principles and is assumed to have more of his physical gifts intact than the other three. Considered by most boxing experts to be the future of the division, he may have a lonely future if the age of other prominent light heavies is any indication.  A look at Ring Magazine’s top ten light heavyweights is alarming. Of the ten, only 29-year-old Adrian Diaconu joins Dawson in the under twenty set.

On the opposite end is Bernard Hopkins at 43. The average age of Ring’s top ten light heavyweights is an astounding 37.9 years.  Which isn’t to say that (Dawson 25-0, 17 KOs) will have an easy night. Johnson (47-11-2, 24 KOs) brings constant pressure, is the toughest man Dawson has faced to date, and has a good chance at winning if the less seasoned champion cracks under pressure.

The Woods/Tarver scrap pits two veterans against one another, though Woods’ (41-3, 24 KOs) performances have escalated in recent bouts, while Tarver (26-4, 19 KOs), easily the more gifted of the two, has at times shown indifference in the ring. Woods, at this stage of his career is a better fighter than the one who was manhandled by Roy Jones in 2002. Since the Jones fight Woods has evolved into one tough Englishman and will punish Tarver for any indifference toward him.