By Scott Gilfoid: Undefeated heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua (10-0, 10 KOs) will be back in the ring next month against 35-year-old journeyman Kevin Johnson (29-6-1, 14 KOs) in a 10 round fight at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
Joshua, 25, will be defending his WBC International heavyweight strap.
Johnson previously fought for a world title against former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko five years ago in 2009. Vitali ended up beating Johnson by a lopsided 12 round decision.
This was when Johnson was in the prime of his career. Since that fight, Johnson’s career has kind of tanked with him losing four out of his last five fights. Among those losses were one-sided defeats at the hands of Tyson Fury, Dereck Chisora and Manuel Charr.
About the only positive you can get out of the Joshua-Johnson fight for Joshua is the potential of him getting some badly needed rounds. Johnson has never been knocked out before, so this fight could potentially give Joshua rounds. However, I can see the referee working the fight stopping it prematurely if Johnson covers up on the ropes while Joshua flurries on him with robotic arm punches.
We saw Joshua get a 1st round knockout in last month against 39-year-old Michael Sprott. Joshua briefly hurt Sprott with a right hand that caused him to back up to the ropes. But then Joshua unloaded with a flurry of arm punches that led to the referee halting the fight even though Sprott was doing okay and blocking most of the shots.
The referee seemed to be enamored by the flurry that Joshua was throwing, and he didn’t pay attention to the fact that most of the shots were getting blocked. I can see Kevin Johnson being stopped in this manner if he makes the mistake of backing up against the ropes. All Joshua has to do is throw punches and I’d be willing to bet the referee halts the fight even if the shots aren’t landing.
Joshua is going to have to find some hand speed before he moves up a level to face the Deontay Wilder type heavyweights in the division, because right now Joshua is just too flat-footed, robotic and slow to compete with quick guys like Deontay in my view.
Also on the card is lightweight contender Kevin Mitchell facing #5 WBC Daniel Estrada in a make or break fight for Mitchell. He needs a win over Estrada to ensure that he keeps heading forward for an eventual world title shot. Light welterweight Tommy Martin will be fighting Ricky Boylan in a 10 round bout. Middleweight John Ryder will be facing a still to be determined opponent.
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