By Scott Gilfoid: EBU heavyweight champion Dereck Chisora (19-4, 13 KO’s) will be facing 34-year-old Kevin Johnson (29-4-1, 14 KO’s) on February 15th at the Copper Box Arena in London, UK. I had a feeling that Chisora would wind up facing Johnson because he’s relatively well known after having fought and lost to former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko four years ago when Johnson was fighting at a much higher level than he is now.
Unfortunately, Johnson doesn’t appear to be the same fighter that fought Viali for his WBC title strap, as he’s lost 2 out of his last 3 fights in defeats against Christian and Tyson Fury.
Chisora is still in the rebuilding stage after getting dominated by David Haye and Vitali in back to back fights. While Chisora’s fans are getting excited him him again after he’s won his last four fights, you’ve got to put things in perspective and look at the weak opposition he’s been facing. Check out his opposition since his defeat to Haye: Ondrej Pala, Edmund Gerber, Malik Scott and Hector Alfredo Avila. Those are weak opponents, and ones that Chisora could likely easily beat even if he let his weight balloon up to 260 and fight them.
I don’t see anything in Chisora’s recent performances that tell me that he’s improved since being stopped by Haye. Chisora looks like the same fighter to me, but I do think his punch resistance has dropped off since the Haye fight because Pala and Gerber were both able to stagger him. It goes without saying that if Chisora is getting staggered by 2nd tier fodder like this, then what do you expects going to happen when Chisora steps it up and faces someone with talent?
If Chisora gets past Johnson then he’ll be facing Tyson Fury in the Summer. Chisora will lose that fight badly unless he brains Fury with a shot to the back of the head like he did his last opponent Pala. Other than that, I can’t see Chisora being competitive with Fury, because he doesn’t have the size, power or the speed to take advantage of Fury’s weak chin.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Kevin Johnson out-boxes Chisora and makes him look like a limited fighter. I’m not saying I see Johnson getting a win under those circumstances, but I do think he’s capable of clowning Chisora for 12 rounds, and then likely winding up losing by a controversial decision. I just hope that Johnson doesn’t get nailed in the back of the head and knocked out in this fashion because it would be such a pity to see another opponent of Chisora’s knocked out with a rabbit shot.
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