Kevin Johnson could wreck Chisora’s plans for Fury rematch

By Boxing News - 02/09/2014 - Comments

johnson343By Scott Gilfoid: 34-year-old Kevin Johnson (29-4-1, 14 KO’s) is in the position of being a potential spoiler in his clash next Saturday night against #2 WBO, #7 IBF, #7 WBC, #13 WBA Derek Chisora (19-4, 13 KO’s) on February 15th at the Copper Box Arena in London, UK. Chisora has resurrected his once sagging career by beating 4 soft touches to pad his resume and get pushed up the rankings.

Chisora is now looking to avenge an earlier defeat a the hands of Tyson Fury by facing him this Summer in a British heavyweight showdown that could possibly be a heavyweight title eliminator bout. However, Chisora has looked mediocre in many of his recent fights, and he was staggered badly several times against his last little known opponent Ondrej Pala from last November.

With as bad Chisora has looked, it’s quite possible that the talented Johnson could beat him if he brings the skills that he showed in earlier fights. Kevin Johnson of 2009 would absolutely clown Chisora, and make him look really bad in the process of beating him.

If that version of Kevin Johnson shows up next Saturday night, then I don’t see how Chisora can win the fight other than maybe if he nails Johnson in the back of the head with a beautiful rabbit shot like the one he took Malik Scott out with, and like the ones he stopped Pala with. However, Johnson’s a pretty talented heavyweight, and I can definitely see him having his guard up to keep from getting hit with Chisora’s rabbit punches.

The best way for Johnson to keep from getting hit with Chisora’s rabbit shots is for him to keep in the center of the ring, stay of the ropes, and jab Chisora nonstop to the face every round. If Johnson can throw 80-100 jabs per round, and use his long 82″ reach on Chisora, then there’s no way he’ll be hit with the rabbit punches that Chisora throws from time to time. To me, I see Chisora’s only real dangerous punch is his rabbit shots. Other than those punches, he doesn’t have much in the way of power at all.

Johnson will be sporting a big 8 inch reach advantage over Chisora in this fight, and that could be a big factor for him if he’s smart enough to stay off the ropes. Johnson went to the ropes in his loss to WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko back in 2009, and that cost him the fight. But Vitali’s 6’7″, and he had a long reach of his own, so it’s hard to blame Johnson for using that tactic against him to survive. But Johnson can’t afford to do this against Chisora because the chances will be too high that he gets hit with a looping shot that will go around the side of his guard and brain him in the back of the head like what we saw in the Chisora vs. Malik Scott fight.

Johnson must stay off the ropes to beat Chisora. Like I said, if Johnson can pepper Chisora’s face with 80-100 jabs per round, he’ll dominate the fight and have Chisora’s face looking like hamburger by the time the fight ends. There’s no way that any of the judges will dare giving Chisora the fight with his face looking mangled from Johnson’s jabs.



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