By Sean McDaniel: Heavyweight contender Kevin Johnson (24-1-1, 10 KO’s) called out unbeaten British heavyweight prospect Tyson Fury (13-0, 9 KO’s) today, sending an letter to eastsideboxing.com asking the 22-year-old Fury to fight him. Johnson, 31, is looking to take advantage of the BBBofC failing to sanction Fury’s fight with 42-year-old Francois Botha for February 19th. Fury was looking to take on a soft touch in Botha, who at this point in his career is old and fat.
It would have been an easy win for Fury, but one that wouldn’t have said anything about how good he is or isn’t. Johnson is coming off an impressive eight round decision win over Julius Long last Saturday night on the Evander Holyfield vs. Sherman Williams undercard in West Virginia. Johnson has won his last two fights since being dominated by 6’7″ WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in December 2009. Johnson lost every round of that fight and looked to be just trying to survive against Vitali.
The height difference was simply too much for Johnson to handle, and he discovered that it was much safer to hide on the ropes and just cover up. Fury would really win respect if he chose to fight Johnson. However, it’s doubtful that Fury’s management or trainer Emanuel Steward would let him fight Johnson, because he doesn’t have the same kind of world class skills as Johnson has. In all likelihood, Johnson would beat Fury with ease with his jab alone. He wouldn’t need much more than that unless Fury could somehow take the fight to the inside and try to maul Johnson into submission. Johnson is a fairly good inside fighter and has an excellent uppercut and left hook. He would be a problem for Fury if he landed one of his big shots with any kind of regularity.
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