Kevin Johnson: Fury can beat the Klitschkos

By Boxing News - 12/02/2012 - Comments

Image: Kevin Johnson: Fury can beat the KlitschkosBy Scott Gilfoid: I think heavyweight Tyson Fury’s 12 round decision win over Kevin Johnson last Saturday night did something to him because Johnson is now saying that Fury punches harder than WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko and that he could beat the Klitschkos.

Johnson said to express.co.uk “Tyson Fury hits harder than anyone I’ve faced – and that includes Vitali Klitschko…Could he beat the Klitschkos? Yes, he could. I’ve fought and gone 12 rounds with Vitali Klitschko, so I should know.”

Let’s get this straight. Fury does not punch harder than Vitali. That’s pretty obvious just by looking at Fury throw his punches. He’s not a big puncher, but then again neither if Vitali at this point in his career. But he still is a harder punch than Fury at 41.

As far as Fury being able to beat the Klitschkos, it’s not going to happen. No way Fury beats either Wladimir or Vitali unless he waits them out 10 years, and that’s not going to happen because the Klitschko brothers will soon retire and get replaced by likely Deontay Wilder.

Johnson fought Vitali three years ago, and spent almost the entire 12 rounds leaning over the ropes in a rope-a-dope strategy, except that Johnson didn’t throw many punches in that fight either. Johnson didn’t go to the center of the ring to fight Vitali like he did against Fury, and it was painfully one-sided. However, Johnson was younger then and he was definitely in better shape than he looked last Saturday night against Fury.

I realize Fury’s promoter got Johnson on short notice with him only having 3 weeks of training time, but it was just an awful fight because Johnson didn’t throw any punches back at Fury. He did but rarely, and it just looked like Johnson was too tired to throw.

The build up to the fight was awful with Fury singing while Johnson played the piano, like they were good friends. I should have known then that was going to be a stinker of a fight because it just looked like a warning of something bad to come.

The crowd ended up booing Fury by the midpoint in the fight, and it wasn’t just because Fury lacked the power to finish off what appeared to be walking punching bag. The crowd seemed to be booing out of anger, as if to say ‘How could be fighting this kind of opponent?’

These boxing fans were expecting a fight and what they saw was one guy throwing all the punches while the other guy just looked old, out of shape and tired. I think it was good matchmaking on Fury’s promoters part to dig up a harmless fighter for Fury to beat, but it backfired because Johnson looked so bloody awful that it turned off the fans. Had that been someone like Kubrat Pulev, I think they Fury would have been knocked out cold because he didn’t look good taking the few hard shots that Johnson actually threw.



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