By Jason Kim: Showtime obviously was desperate to find a replacement for WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler when he pulled out of the Super Six tournament recently rather than stick it out and fight American Allan Green (29-2, 20 KO’s). In selecting Johnson, Showtime is getting a fighter that has lost two out of his last three fights and who has gotten to the point where he struggles to make the 175 pound light heavyweight limit. It almost seems as if Showtime wasn’t aware of the fact that Johnson is a light heavyweight and not a super middleweight.

Whoever was the one that decided on Johnson, this is something that can go badly wrong if he’s unable to make the 168 pound super middleweight limit or if he comes in looking as poor as he did in his last fight against International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud in August. Johnson’s slapping punches resulted in him losing a very winnable fight. Given how hard it was for Johnson to make 175 recently, he could find it next to impossible to pare off another seven pounds to make weight for the Green fight.

What Johnson needs more than anything is a fight for two at super middleweight for him to get accustomed to fighting at this weight. It’s better that then throwing him into a fight in a lighter division and have him not make the weight class. This isn’t a catch weight fight, so Johnson is going to have to make the weight or else his goose is cooked. Johnson may have enough left in the tank to beat Green, as long as he’s not too badly affected by having to take too much weight off. Showtime really needed to go the extra yard to find a suitable replacement from the super middleweight division instead of pooling from the light heavyweight class to find the nearly 42-year-old Johnson.