Well, that was a stinker, a complete stinker. I don't often say this about a fight but that was a step too far in the display of negativity (I'm not a fan to start but that was a joke). For Kevin "Kingpin" Johnson it was his chance, and on the showing, he won't get another one, sadly negativity gets you zero fans no matter what you do with it. Fans are earned in this port by wars, battles and fighting, Kevin, you can forget having another pay day off the back of any of the current champions on that performance because no one will pay to see you try and survive.
Anyway rather than starting at the end and staying there, let's get on to the fight report of Vitali Klitschko's WBC title defence against Kevin Johnson the second American in a row for the elder Klitschko brother to deal with after he dealt a rather one-sided beat down to Chris Arroela. Johnson unbeaten in 23 (22 wins and a singe draw on his record with 9 KO's) was seen as the next best heavyweight and was relatively highly ranked by the WBC (#6) whilst Klitschko is seen, along with his brother, as one of the top 2 heavyweights. It was to be the big step up in class for Johnson who had shown he was skilful with a pea shooter jab, though Klitschko was known for having a ram rod right hand that had seen him stopping 37 of 38 opponents (with 2 losses). The fight between the two took place in the PostFinance Arena, Berne in Switzerland, the first time in over a decade that Vitali would fight outside of the USA or Germany.
The pre-fight "show" as they seem to always do in Germany and now it seems Switzerland too saw Jan Delay performing a version of his song "Disco", in what seemed to be a "Klitschko" remake, seeing the disco word replaced with the fighters name. He may not have been at home, but it was obvious who was selling this fight.
Johnson entered first to the ring, looking a little apprehensive on the TV camera, coming out to to the Michael Jackson track "Man In The Mirror" perhaps a sign of what he'd hope to do at the end of the fight and recognise himself. Klitschko came down to a much more hard hitting rocky piece after the giant bell above the ring rang several times, he also came out to a video of recent champions giving him encouragement. The reaction to the two again summed up who was the "home town" fighter as Klitschko got a heavy dose of cheers to Johnson's boos. We then had the national anthems and got ready to go, with some feeling the charade before the fight would last longer than the actual fight.
The fight started and it often looked like Johnson was the proverbial rabbit in the headlights, he quickly took the outside of the ring, then made friends with the ropes, where he'd spend most of the fight. Klitschko's ruthless streak seemed to be on show from the start though he seemed unable to land too much of note as Johnson ducked and dived and leaned back on the ropes. Although Klitschko was landing plenty little seemed to land flush and what Johnson threw back wasn't going to be particularly harmful to the big man. I scored the round 10-9 though how anyone could score it anything else is beyond me.
It was felt that the only way Johnson would win would be on points, using his speed and his superior reach to keep feeding Klitschko a long line of jabs whilst moving, circling his opponents. A similar game plan that was executed perfectly by Kevin Mitchell of using your speed. Instead Johnson gave his friendship to the ropes again, as if thinking he'd rope-a-dope the giant Ukrainian fighter. By this point it was becoming obvious Johnson had nothing to bother Klitschko with, his pea shooter fighting style was going to do little to effect the dominating Klitschko who took this round as well.
The third saw an improvement form Johnson by now it seemed like Johnson was probably being broken down bit by bit, it was the Klitschko way after all, don't bomb them out with a single shot, just break every little piece of them up. Though by the way Johnson was taunting through out it seemed as though maybe Vitali would crack and go for the kill, rush in and get rid of the self proclaimed "King pin". Instead the third round saw Johnson landing a solid jab...that Klitschko walked right through almost in an homage to something like the Terminator it looked as though he hardly felt it. Again Klitschko was the busy of the two, though Johnson had looked like he'd realised he needed to do something in the fight.
The fourth round however saw Johnson back to lying on the ropes, making himself look a dope by the fact that he wasn't going to win with those sorts of tactics, Klitschko is a lot more intelligent in the ring than a George Foreman type of fighter. That's with out saying that Muhammed Ali was considerably better than Johnson is as well. By now it seemed somewhat funny that Klitschko was only jabbing to the head and going for the big right hand, there was no variety there, no combinations and no body work, puzzling but he was in complete control.
The fifth seemed to be a round in which Johnson, licking his lips, just wanted to annoy the robotic Klitschko, as if hoping for some sort of a malfunction (like the arm injury that caused him to pull out of the fight with Chris Byrd). Johnson kept to single punches, and with his hand speed it seemed a ludicrous idea, why not use the hand speed and take it to the Klitschko? Instead he was too lazy again trying to fight off the ropes and rolling with the punches.
The sixth followed the same pattern Johnson to the ropes (give Klitschko the obvious ring generalship), ducking and diving but not throwing anything (giving Klitschko the "effective aggression" as well). By now it was obvious Johnson didn't care about the win, he was just there to survive, though what's the point in fighting a man like Vitali to "survive", you're just going to turn fans away from you.
The seventh saw Klitschko stepping up his work rate a bit as he realises Johnson is looking a little bit tired, though he's still not going to the body and still not looking like he's really hurt the loud mouthed American fighter. Johnson still staying in survival mode (where he would remain for the rest of the fight in fact) is still not throwing enough.
Round 8 came and by now it was obvious, Klitschko may be heavy handed and tough, but he's limited, he only has the jab and the right hand, there's no hooks, crosses, uppercuts or anything coming from him that isn't straight. Yes he's in charge and yes it's direct but he's not found a way around the defensiveness of Johnson a regular basis (though he did land a few nice right hands in this round).
Round 9 saw Johnson come out of his corner very early as if suggesting he was still with energy in the tank, though from what he was throwing it was hardly surprising, it was like a 101 in keeping energy and losing a fight. The first 90 minutes were ugly, nothing of note other than the two almost wrestling with each other. Klitschko almost looking like he's trying to feint Johnson but it's not working, Johnson just refuses to fight.
Round 10 was about the time when I expected Johnson to cave in and fold, though Johnson stood there, mixing in a lot of body movement with a sprinkle of hand movement, sadly for every viewing, we think he got the ratios wrong, he needed much more hand movement. By now the German commentators that I was listening to had become background noise and the fight merely a tedious case of survival. I realised my limited German was of no use to the commentary sadly.
Round 11 saw the two in centre ring much more than the earlier rounds, though a Vitali "malfunction" was unlikely it was the only way Johnson would win. Though it had become obvious by this point that Johnson was going to last the 12, he hadn't looked hurt and hadn't come to fight, there was no risk in being caught with a counter shot or anything other than the straight shots Klitschko was throwing. Though where was a bit of afters after the round as if to suggest Johnson was trying to get Vitali to hit him after the bell.
Round 12 was thankfully a bit more exciting as Vitali tried to stop Johnson, he was more aggressive almost like a man on a mission. For the first minute or so Johnson did nothing before throwing a token jab. In fact after the jab it'd be fair to say he did nothing as well. As far as I was concerned it was a shut out, Johnson couldn't have won a round fighting like that, he just didn't do anything other than go 12 rounds.
Rather annoyingly when Wladimir (Vitali's brother) came in to congratulate Johnson on going the 12 it seemed Johnson showed more aggression than at any other time in the previous 50 minutes.
The judges score card were read out with two scores of 120-18 and one of 119-109 (presumably someone gave Johnson a sympathy round.
The fight showed us some crucial things, Johnson can't cut it at this class, he fought scared and failed to bring any aggression. The lack of aggression will cost him fans and chances, people get drawn to exciting fighters win or lose, Aturo Gatti is a prime example, go out a warrior rather than stink a place out. Vitali Klitschko is limited, terribly limited and seemed incapable of going to the body (which was there all fight) or throwing any combinations though at 38 he can still fight at a good pace for 12 rounds.