American Kevin Johnson plans to bust Anthony Joshua’s bubble when they meet this Saturday. The Olympic gold medal hero has impressively sparked out all his first 12 opponents inside three rounds since his debut two years ago, but Thompson who is yet to be stopped in 36 fights claims Joshua is just a hype job.
Johnson, dubbed the ‘Kingpin’ took Vitali Klitschko and Tyson Fury the full distance in their world title fight in 2009 and went the full 12 distance with experienced Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora. The durable American is adamant he is in the best shape of his career and will expose the popular Londoner when they meet this weekend.
“He 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,” said Johnson.
“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.
“I’ve been here for two months now and not remotely homesick – I’m hungry for something, and I know what I’m about to get.
“My training has been in a highly classified location, we been keeping everything under wraps and under the hat, so nobody know about that. We don’t want to be scaring people off.
“I’ve been ready for two weeks. Let me tell you this – I’ve been a pro since 2003, this is the best shape and condition I’ve ever been in during my whole career
“For the last two years I didn’t even train and I didn’t even care. The days of hurting my career are over. I blew it by not training and just turning up – but not for this, not for this right here!
Johnson’s words that he did not train for the past two years are hardly believable, though more conceivable may be the suggestion that he has never committed fully to training. The fight game is a very tough one, and many boxers sometimes compromise the hard level of training required to operate at top level because there eyes are usually more on the pay cheque than they are on the prize of glory. We still must not be fooled in thinking Johnson did not train hard for his failed attempt at Vitali Klitschko’s crown in 2009, because he most likely did. Yet, many heavyweights of today who have had a shot at Vitali Klitschko may have been resigned to believing privately that they have a mountain to climb in defeating the sturdy Ukranaian who never tasted the ring canvas in his illustrious 12 year career. The retired older Klitschko was an iron puncher, despite being robotic.
Johnson would have also trained for his fight against Britain’s Tyson Fury, but may have underestimated the 6ft 9 inches gypsy fighter a bit, because though huge, Tyson Fury looks less intimidating than Anthony Joshua, physically. Tyson Fury trains hard for every fights, but he has never really pushed himself to the limit. Anthony Joshua is a different proposition altogether. He looks really cut and muscular and he has proven power. He is olympic champion, knocked out all his opponents but not very experienced. Johnson will not want to risk the obvious expectation of getting knocked out, and he will also be relatively confident because of Joshua’s inexperience. This might be an interesting test for Britain’s Antony Joshua