25.10.03 – By Chris Hull: In one night, Vitali went from Quitschko, to a respected fighter. He proved he not only had heart, but also talent, power, and a chin. How sad that the fight was stopped when it was. Lewis seemed to think that he would have knocked out the giant Ukranian soon. I, along with countless others, disagree. Vitali Klitschko has shown that he can stand toe-to-toe with any man in the Heavyweight division right now.
Klitschko has an upcoming fight with the amateurish Kirk Johnson, which, in my opinion, he will win handily for the simple fact that Johnson is plain awful. Once again, as happened after the Lewis fight, the Klitschko brothers are showing that they are the future of the Heavyweight division. But will they last? Yes, I think they will. After the Lewis fight, the name Klitschko was on every boxing fans lips. Now however, there are still the few doubters who think Johnson will be able to beat Vitali. I’m sorry, but let’s put this though to rest right now with a few logical points.
Kirk Johnson has not, and cannot stand toe-to-toe, or even stand in the same ring with someone like Klitschko. He has never faced anyone even close to this size and skill combo. After fighting ten of the crumbiest rounds in boxing with Ruiz, Kirk Johnson was DQ’d, his only loss. During this fight, Johnson basically stunk up the arena with his 2rd rate boxing skills, which made Ruiz look like the second coming of Muhammed Ali. After this pathetic loss, Johnson had two wins, his latest being a stoppage of the old Lou Savarese. Johnson would have been easily beaten by Lewis – no matter what condition Lewis was in -, and will, I mean WILL, be destroyed by Vitali. The only question in my mind is this: Will Vitali go for an early knockout, or box him and then KO him late as he did Larry Donald? Unless I miss my guess, Vitali will toy with Johnson for a few rounds before getting bored and knocking him senseless by round 4. There is no question on why they call Vitali “Ironfist”, 32 wins with 31 of them coming by knockout.
I predict that Vitali will stop Johnson in 4-6 rounds, after toying with him early. Klitschkomania will again sweep the boxing nation for a few fleeting moments. It will not be permanent until Vitali wins the heavyweight championship, and we all know that is not too far away.