By Scott Gilfoid: British promoter Mick Hennessy claims that Kevin Johnson (28-2-1, 13 KO’s) is a real threat to his fighter Tyson Fury (19-0, 14 KO’s) as the two heavyweights head into their December 1st fight at the Odyssey Arena, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
Hennessy said to Sky Sports “He’s [Johnson] a very dangerous opponent, he’s a clever boxer, he’s never been stopped and he can punch so Tyson has his work cut out.”
Johnson, 33, recently was beaten in the Prizefighter tourney by Tor Hamer last June, and that kind of dampens a lot of the interest in having Johnson as an opponent for Fury. Hennessy might as well have chosen Hamer to fight Fury instead of Johnson. Kevlin Price, the guy that unbeaten heavyweight talent Deontay Wilder is facing on December 15th, beat Tor Hamer. So that kind of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it? Johnson gets beat by Hamer who in turn is beaten by Wilder’s next opponent Kevlin Price.
Johnson is a step up for Fury but not that much of a step up. Fury has been spoon fed by Hennessy for the most part. The only decent fight that Fury has had during his career was against an out of shape Dereck Chisora last year, and I don’t count that as a victory because of how overweight Chisora was. An in shape Chisora would have an excellent chance of beating Fury.
Johnson fought for a world title against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in 2009 but he looked awful in that fight. Johnson spent the entire fight with his back against the ropes and it looked like a planned strategy. It reminded me of the Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki fight where boxing fans thought they were going to see Ali knockout a wrestler. Instead, Anoki fell to his back in the 1st round and spent much of the fight on his back, kicking at Ali. It was a terrible fight, if you want to call it a fight. Johnson didn’t do anything against Vitali and it was just a poor, poor effort for someone fighting for a world title.
Johnson isn’t even ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies. It would be sad if Fury gets a title shot off of a win over Johnson. At least make Fury earn a world title shot by facing someone like Kubrat Pulev to see how he does against a relevant heavyweight.
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