Paul Strauss – Berne, Switzerland is noted for its beauty, high finances, and winter sports. Tonight fans at the PostFinance Arena got none of the three. The so called heavyweight championship fight was a pitiful example of what the division has become. Kevin Johnson, the so called “kingpin” should be renamed the “safety pin”, because he no more wanted to win the fight than the guy who drank to much beer and had to go to the john.
As is normal with both Vitali and Wlad, the fight started out very cautiously………and remained so for twelve rounds. Boring! Vitali did try to land a few hard punches, but he didn’t put any combinations together. He was tried to land straight range finding type punches, but more often than not was pushing his shots at the overly defensive Johnson. There was no attempt to disguise what he was trying to do, and Johnson was able to pick up on the punches and avoid any serious damage..
At first Johnson might have given fans the impression he had a game plan. Certainly he planned on coming on strong in the later rounds after Vitali had tired? No such luck Johnson was content with landing an occasional jab, which caused a little swelling and minor nick to Vitali. Johnson also was running his mouth…….acting like an idiot! Apparently he thought he was executing a version of the “rope a dope”, but someone forgot to tell him Ali did punch back and stopped Big George. The “Safety Pin’s” version he simply came off as the “dope”! If the Kevin seriously thinks he did enough to win the fight, then he needs a reality check.
It’s a sad thing when a fighter is presented with an opportunity to fight for the most sought after sports title in the world, and then refuses to try and win! That’s what Johnson did in Berne……..nothing! He made no serious attempt to win the fight. It’s too bad referee Kenny Bayless didn’t tell him that the fight would be stopped as NC if he didn’t start fighting. The judges scored the one-sided fiasco as follows: Guido Cavalleri 109-119, Fabian Guggenheim 108-120 and Omar Mintun 108-120, all for Dr. Iron Fist.