By Jim Dower: This Sunday former heavyweight title challenger Kevin “Kingpin” Johnson (25-1-1, 11 KO’s) will be facing 32-year-old IBF Australasian heavyweight champion Alex Leapai (25-3-3, 20 KO’s) for his title at the Doomben Racecourse, Ascot, Queensland, Australia. It’s a pick em fight due to both fighters bring flawed.

Johnson, 6’3″, will have a huge three inch height advantage an a whopping seven inch reach advantage against the 6’0″ Leapai. The reach alone will make incredibly hard for Leapai to land his shots if Johnson stays in the middle of the ring and works his jab all night. Johnson, however, doesn’t always fight smart and he could back up against the ropes like he often does and that could give the big punching Leapai a real chance in this fight. But if Johnson stays off the ropes, he’ll easily win because Leapai is strictly an inside fighter with a low work rate and is easy to outbox.

Leapai has some notable names on his resume, such as Owen Beck, Darnell Wilson, Bob Mirovic and Travis Walker. However, none of those names compare to Johnson in talent and this could be a tough fight for Leapai if Johnson is in good shape and fights at the level he’s been fighting at in the past few years.

Johnson gave WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko some problems with his jab in a losing effort in December 2009. However, Johnson took zero chances in the fight by not throwing power shots and just resting with his back against the ropes for most of the fight. If he had stayed in the center of the ring, he might have done better. Since the fight with Vitali, Johnson hasn’t been very active, fighting only once in 2010 and twice in 2011 in beating journeyman Charles Davis, Julius Long and Harold Sconiers. Leapai will be a tougher test for Johnson but he should win this fight as long as he doesn’t stay on the ropes.