The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ONE of the last words of advice professional boxer Taureano ‘Reno’ Johnson got from his father, Erwin Johnson, before he passed away yesterday was that “it’s time to hang up the gloves.”

The 40-year-old Johnson, who fought in the 2008 Olympic Games before he turned pro and won numerous titles, said he will honor his deceased father’s wishes after he stages one final match that he will headline in The Bahamas for the first time later this year.

It was a fight Johnson said should have already taken place, but an injury prevented it from happening. Now with the death of his father, he said he will stage this one of his final tribute to him.

Erwin Johnson, an 82-year-old native from Roses, Long Island, passed away yesterday at 5am at the Princess Margaret Hospital, but Reno Johnson said the memories will linger on forever at their home in Breadfruit Street in Pinewood Gardens.

“My day was my pillow. He was my biggest supporter. He was the man that I lived to make proud,” said Johnson.

“My day was an extremely hard worker. He was a hardworking man, a relentlessly hark working man. If there’s anything I can say about him was that he was a hard worker who provided for his family. He gave us all good ethics, which was the need to work hard.”

During his career, which was based in the United States, Reno Johnson went 21-2 before he lost the World Boxing Organization’s Inter-Continental middleweight title to Jaime Munguia on October 30, 2020.

But Johnson, who also held the World Boxing Council’s Continental Americas WBC Silver and WBA International and WBC-NSBF middleweight titles, said his father told him “you’ve fought a good fight. It’s time for you to hang up these gloves”.

“That was a touching moment we had just last week and that stayed with me from then. I’m not yet ready to hang it up because I’ve been contemplating one more fight.

“I want to promote that fight right here and then that will be the last time I fight. I’ve never had a headliner here at home, so I want to do this one for him. Injuries postponed the last arrangement, but we were start back on track once we finish dealing with my dad’s death.”

Reno Johnson followed in the footsteps of his father, Erwin, who was once a fighter himself. But his father was known more of a street fighter. Erwin’s father, Erwin Sr, was also a professional boxer in the United States and his brother, Lionel Johnson, who passed away last year, was a pretty good amateur fighter.

Reno and two of his siblings kept the boxing tradition going. His younger brother, Brandon, was also an amateur boxer and their sister, Kayla, became a certified boxing coach, having served as one of Reno’s pro coaches as well.

Their mother and Erwin’s wife, Ikanna was also a former secretary of the Bahamas Amateur Boxing Federation. She at one time ran for the presidency., but she and her husband were advert supporters of their children.

They would be seen at just about every local boxing competition, especially being related to the Ray Minus Sr and Jr, the legendary boxing family. The late Johnson was also the brother-in-law to Jean ‘Bubbles’ Minus, one of the country’s most versatile female athletes.

“Erwin was the strongest real man I know,. He was a fighter. I watch my husband over the last three years with all he was going through, he always got back up,” she lamented.

“He was always a strong man. He was strong. He was encouraging me more than anything., He wasn’t afraid to die. He told me he was ready. So I don’t have any tears right now. Maybe later they will come.

“I am not saddened because when he was in the hospital, we prayed everyday. For the past five years, he took an hour everday to communicate with God. I call him the legend. He was a legendary man.”