By Scott Gilfoid: Having seen unbeaten #6 WBC Anthony Joshua (12-0, 12 KOs) a number of times, 35-year-old former world title challenger Kevin Johnson (29-6-1, 13 KOs) has pronounced the 25-year-old Brit as little more than a media hype job, and he plans on exposing the 6’6” Joshua this Saturday night in their fight at the O2 Arena in London, UK. J
ohnson says he’s trained hard for this fight for the first time in ages, and he says 100 percent. Johnson admits that he trained in years, and that’s the reason why he’s lost 4 out of his last 5 fights. But he’s taken this fight seriously, and he says he’s in better shape for this fight than he was for his title shot against former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko six years ago in 2009.
“He [Joshua] is a media hype job and let me tell you this, once this dude is out the way I’m going to show you that the future of the heavyweight division is right here,” Johnson said via Skysports.com.
It pains me to have to agree with Kevin Johnson about Joshua, but I do agree with the guy. I think Joshua is kind of media creation at this point. I see much better heavyweights out there like Dillian Whyte, and of course, Deontay Wilder.
Well, beating Joshua would be a shocker because Johnson is a big underdog, but I think he’s got the tools to get the job done if he can get to Joshua’s chin and force him into the deep waters. Joshua is carrying around all that useless muscle, and he doesn’t appear to be punching any harder than he was when he first turned pro in 2013. Joshua has put on muscle weight, but instead of helping him by making him a better heavyweight, it appears to have slowed him down to the point where he’s now moving slower. The muscles that Joshua has put on seem more like beach muscles more than something that’s actually practical for him. He’d be better off trimming back down to 220 and focusing on speed.
If Johnson is able to drag Joshua to the late rounds, he could knock him out because Joshua is likely going to be totally exhausted. Johnson needs to make sure that he sets a fast enough pace to tire Joshua out. Johnson can’t let Joshua sit back and throw arm punches and fight at a slow pace for 12 rounds. He’s got to push the pace, force Joshua to throw with everything he has, and then he needs to look to finish Joshua off once he’s gasping for breath after he gasses out.
“I’ve said it before, I’ve got the antidote for this guy. It’s something all of these amateur Olympic guys have in them, you’ll see come Saturday – that’s all I’m going to say on that,” Johnson said.
The antidote to beating Joshua is obviously making him fight hard, not letting him rest, and then taking him into the late rounds where all that muscle weight will weight him down. Joshua’s muscles are like dead weight that he carries around with him. They don’t help him in my view. It’s like someone putting 25 pounds of weights on their arms and back and then trying to fight with them. You might do okay for four or five rounds, but when you get to the 9th and 10th rounds, you’re going to be wishing the fight was over so you can go sit down and rest for the night.
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